;y of Call 3rn Regio try Facili
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1. A LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA. By R. W.
FRAZER, LL.B.
2. A LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND. By
DOUGLAS HYDE, LL.D.
3. A LITERARY HISTORY OF AMERICA. By
BARRETT WENDELL.
4. A LITERARY HISTORY OF PERSIA. From the
Earliest Times until Firdawsi. By EDWARD G. BROWNE, M.A.
5. A LITERARY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By J.
H. MILLAR, LL.B.
6. A LITERARY HISTORY OF PERSIA. From
Firdawsi until Sa'di. By EDWARD G. BROWNE, M.A.
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A LITERARY HISTORY OF ITALY. By EDMUND G. GARDNER.
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THE
OF LITER ART HISTOXr
A Literary History of Persia
From the "Earliest Times until Firdawsi
A Literary History of Persia
From the Earliest Times until Firdawsi
:
&W0 OWEN MWAS1A&
M B
-s»or of Arabic, Fellow of Po . and tometime Lecturer in Pfrgian in the University of Cambridge
3d ol bi£« .gniJI (nfiinKesB) "^ cmbom £ nwnl ; anialwKri-B anios ,(\sd-o^ r.H bKmrnr.riul/'. yd ^nilnifi
T. Fisher Utiwin Ltd: ielphi Terrace
>e Knusraw Parwiz Jiagir called Ta'us
A Literary History of Persia
From the Earliest Times until Firdawsi
CAM OWEN
Edward G. Browne, M.A., M.B
Sir Thomas Adams' Professor of Arabic, Fellow of Pembroke
College, and sometime Lecturer in Persian in the
University of Cambridge
London T. Fisher Unwin Ltd:
Adelphi Terrace
First Edition . 1908 Reprinted . . 1909 Reprinted .
Stack Annex
Pt
Preface
FOR many years I had cherished a desire to write a history of the intellectual and literary achievements of the Persians, somewhat on the lines of that most admirable work, Green's Short History of the English People, a work which any writer may be proud to adopt as a model, but which few can hope to rival and none to surpass. Considering the immense number of books which have been written about Persia, it is strange that so few attempts should hitherto have been made to set forth in a comprehensive yet comparatively concise and sum- mary form the history of that ancient and most interesting kingdom. Excellent monographs on particular periods and dynasties do indeed exist in plenty ; but of general histories of Persia those of Sir John Malcolm and Clements Markham are still the chief works of reference in English, though they no longer represent, even approximately, the present level of knowledge (enormously raised in recent times by the unremit- ting labours of an ever-increasing band of students and scholars), in addition to which they both deal rather with the external political conditions of Persia than with the inner life of her people.
Conscious of the magnitude and difficulty of the task, and constantly engaged in examining and digesting the abundant and almost unexplored materials which every large collection of Oriental manuscripts yields, I might probably have con- tinued to postpone indefinitely an attempt for which I felt
Ttt
viii PREFACE
myself ever more rather than less unprepared, had I not received almost simultaneously two separate invitations to contribute a volume on Persian Literature or Literary History to a series which in each case was of conspicuous merit, though in plan, scope, and treatment the difference between the two was considerable. In choosing between the two, I was less influenced by priority of appeal, extent of remunera- tion, or personal predilection, than by the desire to secure for myself the ampler field and the broader — I had almost said the more philosophical — plan. The model placed before me in the one case was Jusserand's charming Literary History of the English People, the conception and execution of which (for reasons more fully explained in the Introductory chapter of the following work) so delighted me that I thereupon decided to make for the series to which it belonged the effort which I had long contemplated. For it was the intellectual history ot the Persians which I desired to write, and not merely the history of the poets and authors who expressed their thoughts through the medium of the Persian language ; the manifesta- tions of the national genius in the fields of Religion, Philosophy, and Science interested me at least as much as those belonging to the domain of Literature in the narrower sense ; while the linguistic vehicle through which they sought expression was, from my point of view, indifferent. I trust that my readers will realise this at the outset, so that they may not suffer disappointment, nor feel themselves aggrieved, because in this volume more is said about movements than books, and less about books written in Persian than about those written in Pahlawi, Arabic, or some other language.
It was originally intended that the work should be com- pleted in one volume, carrying the history down to the present day. But I soon convinced myself (and, with more difficulty, my publisher) that this was impossible without grave modification (and, from my point of view, mutilation) of my original plan. At first I hoped to carry this volume
PREFACE ix
down to the Mongol Invasion and the extinction of the Cali- phate of Baghdad in the thirteenth century, which, as I have elsewhere observed (pp. 210-211 infra\ is the great turning- point in the history of Islam ; but even this finally proved impracticable within the limits assigned to me, and I ulti- mately found myself obliged to conclude this part of my work with the immediate precursors of Firdawsi, the writers and poets of the Samanid and Buwayhid dynasties.
This division is, perhaps, after all the best, since the Prolegomena with which the student of Persian literature ought to be acquainted are thus comprised in the present volume, while the field of Persian literature in the narrower sense will, with the aid of one chapter of recapitulation, be entirely covered by the second, with which it is intended that this should be supplemented. Thus, agreeably to the stipula- tions imposed by my publisher, the two volumes will be independent one of the other, this containing the Prolegomena, and that the History of Persian Literature within the strict meaning of the term.
My chief fear is lest, in endeavouring to present to the general reader the results attained by Oriental scholarship, and embodied for the most part in books and periodicals which he is unlikely to read, or even to meet with, I may have fallen,, so to speak, between two stools, and ended by producing a book which is too technical for the ordinary reader, yet too popular for the Orientalist by profession. To the former rather than the latter it is addressed ; but most of all to that small but growing body of amateurs who, having learned to love the Persian poets in translation, desire to know more of the language, literature, history, and thought of one of the most ancient, gifted, and original peoples in the world. In a country which offers so few inducements as England to what may be called the professional study of Oriental letters and languages, and which consequently lacks well-organised Oriental schools such as exist at Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg,
x PREFACE
and other Continental capitals, it is chiefly with the amateur (and I use the word in no disparaging sense, but as meaning one whose studies are prompted by taste and natural inclina- tion rather than by necessity) that the future extension and development of these studies lies. To him (or her), therefore, this book is especially addressed ; and should it prove of use to any of those whose interest in the East is more real and abiding than that of the ordinary reader, but who have neither the opportunity nor the apparatus of study necessary to the professional student, I shall deem myself amply rewarded for my labour in compiling it.
Concerning the system of transliteration of Oriental names and words here adopted little need be said ; it is essentially that approved by the Royal Asiatic Society for the transcrip- tion of the Arabic character, and will be readily understood by all who are familiar with that script. That consistency (or, as I fear may be said by some of my critics, pedantry) has com- pelled me to write Hafidh, Nidhami, 'Umar, Firdawsi, &c., for the more popular Hafiz, Nizami, Omar, and Ferdousi may be regretted from some points of view, but will at least generally save the student from doubts as to the correct spell- ing in the original character of the names occurring in the following pages. I only regret that this consistency has not been more complete, and that I have in a few cases (notably Adharbayjan, Azarbayjan) allowed myself to be swayed by actual usage at the expense of uniformity. But at least the reader will not as a rule be puzzled by finding the same name appearing now as 'Uthman, now as 4Usman, and again as 'Osman, according as it is sought to represent its Arabic, its Persian, or its Turkish pronunciation.
And so I commend my book to the benevolent reader, and, I hope I may add, to the not less benevolent critic. Of its many defects, alike in plan and execution, I am fully con- scious, and to others, no doubt, my attention will soon be called. But "whoso desireth a faultless friend remains friend-
PREFACE xl
7«f," says a well-known Eastern adage, and it is no less true that he who would write a flawless book writes nothing. I have admitted that I felt myself unprepared for so great a task ; but I should have felt equally unprepared ten or twenty years hence, the subject ever widening before our eyes more rapidly than the knowledge of it grows in our minds. Even the most imperfect book, if it breaks fresh ground, may, though itself doomed to oblivion, prepare the way for a better.
EDWARD G. BROWNE. SEPTEMBER 14, 1902.
Contents
MM
PREFACE . . . . . . . vii
BOOK I
ON THE ORIGINS AND GENERAL HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE, LANGUAGES, AND LITERATURES OF PERSIA
CHAPTER PACK
I. INTRODUCTORY ...... 3
II. THE DISCOVERY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE IN-
SCRIPTIONS AND DOCUMENTS OF ANCIENT PERSIA, WITH OTHER PHILOLOGICAL MATTER . . 39
III. THE PRE-MUHAMMADAN LITERATURE OF THE PERSIANS, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR LEGENDARY HlS- TORY, AS SET FORTH IN THE BOOK OF THE KlNGS 88
BOOK II
ON THE HISTORY OF PERSIA FROM THE RISE OF THE SASANIAN TO THE FALL OF THE UMAY- YAD DYNASTY (A.D. 226-750.)
IV. THE SASANIAN PERIOD (A.D. 226-652) . . . 127
V. THE ARAB INVASION . . . 185
VI. THE UMAYYAD PERIOD (A.D. 661-749) • • • 209
Jdil
xiv CONTENTS
BOOK III
ON THE EARLY 'ABBASID PERIOD, OR GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
CHAPTER PAGE
VII. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM (A.D. 749-847) FROM THE ACCESSION OF AS-SAFFAH TO THE DEATH OF AL-WATHIQ . . 251
VIII. THE DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM . . . 279
IX. THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS OF THIS PERIOD . 308
BOOK IV
ON THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE, FROM THE ACCESSION OF AL- MUTAWAKK1L TO THE ACCESSION OF SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNA
(A.D. 850-1000)
X. THE GENERAL PHENOMENA OF THE FIRST PERIOD
OF THE DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE (A.D. 847- ICOO), FROM THE ACCESSION OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL TO THE ACCESSION OF MAHMUD OF GHAZNA . 339
XI. THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GHAZNAWI PERIOD . 377
XII. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF THIS PERIOD . . 391
I. The Isma'ilis and Carmathians, or the " Sect of the Seven"
XIII. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF THIS PERIOD . . 416
II. The Sufi Mysticism
XIV. THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA DURING THIS PERIOD . 445
BIBLIOGRAPHY 481
INDEX . . 497
BOOK I
ON THE ORIGINS AND GENERAL HISTORY
OF THE PEOPLE, LANGUAGES, AND
LITERATURES OF PERSIA
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
THIS book, as its title implies, is a history, not of the different
dynasties which have ruled in Persia and of the kings who
composed those dynasties, but of the Persian
Scope of work. . .
people. It is, moreover, the history of that people written from a particular point of view — the literary. In other words, it is an attempt to portray the subjective — that is to say, the religious, intellectual, and aesthetic — characteristics of the Persians as manifested in their own writings, or sometimes, when these fail, in those of their neighbours. It is not, however, precisely a history of Persian Literature ; since, on the one hand, it will exclude from con- sideration the writings of those who, while using the Persian language as the vehicle of their thought, were not of Persian race ; and, on the other hand, it will include what has been written by Persians who chose as their medium of expression some language other than their mother-tongue.*. India, for example, has produced an extensive literature of which the language is Persian, but which is not a reflex of the Persian mind, and the same holds good in lesser degree of several branches of the Turkish race, but with this literature we are in no wise concerned. Persians, on the other hand, have continued ever since the Muhammadan Conquest — that is to say, for more than twelve hundred years — to use the Arabic
3
4 INTRODUCTORY
language almost to the exclusion of their own in writing on certain subjects, notably theology and philosophy ; while during the two centuries immediately succeeding the Arab invasion the language of the conquerors was, save amongst those who still adhered to the ancient national faith of Zoroaster, almost the sole literary medium employed in Persia. To ignore this literature would be to ignore many of the most important and characteristic manifestations of the Persian genius, and to form an altogether inadequate judgment of the intellectual activity of that ingenious and talented people.
The term " Persian " as used by us, and by the Greeks, Jews, Syrians, Arabs, and other foreigners, has a wider sig- nification than that which it originally bore. 'uTm'plrsia*' The Persians call themselves Irani and their land Ir&nJ and of this land Pdrsa, the Persis of the Greeks, the modern Fdrsf is one province out of several. But because that province gave birth to the two great dynasties (the Achaemenian in the sixth century before, and the Sasanian
1 Iran, Erdn, Air an, the Airiyana of the Ayesta, is the land of the Aryans (Ariya, Airiya of the Avesta, Sanskrit Arya), and had therefore a wider signification than the term Persia, which is equivalent to Iran in the modern sense, has now. Bactria (Balkh), Sogdiana (Sughd), and Khwarazm were Iranian lands, and the Afghans and Kurds are Iranian peoples.
2 The ^>-sound does not exist in Arabic, and is replaced by /. Pars, Isfahan, &c., are simply the arabicised forms of Pars, Ispahan. The adjective Fdrsi (or Pdrsi) denotes the official language of Persia (which is at the same time the mother-tongue of the great majority of its inhabi- tants, and the national language in as full a sense as English is the national language of Great Britain and Ireland), and in this application is equiva- lent to Irani. As applied to a man, however, Fdrsi means a native of the province of Pars. In India Pdrsi (Parsee) means of the Persian (i.e., the ancient Persian, or Zoroastrian) religion, and the term has been re-imported in this sense into Persia. To call the province of Pars " Farsistan," as is sometimes done by European writers, is quite incorrect, for the termina- tion -istdn (" place of," " land of ") is added to the name of a people to denote the country which they inhabit (e.g., Afghanistan, Baluchistan), but not to the name of a country or province.
THE OLD PERSIAN LANGUAGE 5
in the third century after Christ) which made their arms for- midable and their name famous in the West, its meaning was extended so as to include the whole people and country which we call Persian ; just as the tribe of Angles, though numerically inferior to the Saxons, gave their name to England and all that the term English now connotes. As in our own country Angles, Saxons, and Jutes merged in one English people, and the dialects of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex in one English language, so in Iran the inhabitants of Parthia, Media, and Persis became in course of time blended in one Persian people, and their kindred dialects (for already Strabo found them in his time "almost of the same speech," 6/uo-yAwrroi irapa fiiKpov}3 in one Persian tongue.
The Persian language of to-day, Fdrsi, the language of
Fars, is then the lineal offspring of the language which
Cyrus and Darius spoke, and in which the
The Persian proclamations engraved by their commands on
language of /
Achaemeniau the rOcks of Behistun (now called Bi-situn] and
times. * /
Naqsh-i-Rustam, and the walls and columns of Persepolis, are drawn up. These inscriptions of the Achae- menian kings, who ruled in Persia from B.C. 550 until the last Darius was overthrown by Alexander the Great, B.C. 330, are sufficiently extensive and well understood to show us what the Persian language was more than 2,400 years ago.
Remote as is the period from which the earliest written monuments of the Persian language date, they do not, unfor- tunately, present an unbroken series. On the
Interruptions in . ...
the series of contrary, their continuity is broken between the
written monu- . • j j i
mentsofthePer- Achaememan period and the present day by two
»ian language. J J
great gaps corresponding with two great foreign invasions which shattered the Persian power and reduced the Persian people to the position of a subject race. The first of these, beginning with the Greek invasion under Alexander and ending with the overthrow of the Parthian by the Sasanian 3 Strabo, xv, 724.
6 INTRODUCTORY
dynasty, embraces a period of about five centuries and a half (B.C. 33O-A.D. 226). The second, beginning with the Arab invasion and Muhammadan Conquest, which destroyed the Sasanian dynasty and overthrew the Zoroastrian religion, though much shorter, had far deeper and more permanent effects on the people, thought, and language of Persia. " Hellenism," as Noldeke says, " never touched more than the surface of Persian life, but Iran was penetrated to the core by Arabian religion and Arab ways." The Arab con- quest, though presaged by earlier events,1 may be said to have begun with the battles of Buwayb and Qadisiyya (A.D. 635- 637), and to have been completed and confirmed by the death of the last Sasanian king, Yazdigird III, A.D. 651 or 652. The end of the Arabian period cannot be so definitely fixed. In a certain sense it endured till the sack of Baghdad and murder of al-Mustatsim bi'llah, the last 'Abbasid Caliph, in A.D. 1258 by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Changiz Khan. Long before this, however, the Arab power had passed into the hands of Persian and Turkish vassals, and the Caliph, whom they sometimes cajoled and conciliated, but more often coerced or ignored, had ceased to exercise aught beyond a spiritual authority save in the imme- diate neighbourhood of Baghdad. Broadly speaking, however, the revival of the Persian language proceeded part passu with the detachment of the Persian provinces from the direct control of the Caliph's administration, and the uprising ot local dynasties which yielded at most a merely nominal obedience to the 'Abbasid court. Or these dynasties the Tahirids (A.D. 820) are sometimes accounted the first ; but they may more truly be considered to begin with the Saffarids (A.D. 867), Samanids (A.D. 874), and Buwayhids (A.D. 932), and to reach their full development in the Ghaznawids and Seljuqs.
1 Notably by the Battle of Dhu Qar in the reign of Khusraw Parwiz (A,D. 604-610).
PERIODS OF THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE 7
The history of the Persian language falls, therefore, into
three well-defined periods, as follows : —
dePvl?mentthof L The Armenian Period (B.C. 550-330), repre-
t{!!nguagen sented by the edicts and proclamations contained
in the Persian cuneiform inscriptions, which,
though of considerable extent, are similar in character and
style, and yield a vocabulary of not much
Old Persian. J J
more than 400 separate words.1 I he language represented by these inscriptions, and by them only, is gene- rally called Old Persian*
II. The Sasanian Period (A.D. 226-652), represented by inscriptions on monuments, medals, gems, seals, and coins, and
by a literature estimated as, roughly speaking, equal lw!3"' in bulk to the Old Testament.3 This literature is
entirely Zoroastrian and almost entirely theological and liturgical. The language in which it is written, when disentangled from the extraordinary graphic system, known as Huzvaresh (Zuwarishn), used to represent it, is little more than a very archaic form of the present speech of Persia devoid of the Arabic element. It is generally known as Pahlawi, sometimes as Middle Persian. Properly speaking, the term Pahlawi applies rather to the script than the language, but, following the general usage, we shall retain it in speaking of the official language of Sasanian Persia. This script continued
1 Darmesteter, Etudes Iraniennes, vol. i, p. 7.
• The best editions of these inscriptions are those of Kossowicz (St. Petersburg, 1872) and Spiegel (Leipsic, 1862). In the former the texts are given both in the cuneiform and in the Roman character and the transla- tion in Latin. In the latter the texts are transliterated and the translation is in German.
3 West, " On the Extent, Language, and Age of Pahlawi Literature," p. 402 ; also the excellent account of Pahlawi Literature by the same writer in Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, vol. ii, pp. 75-129. West divides the Pahlawi literature into translations of Avesta texts (141,000 words), texts on religious subjects (446,000 words), and texts on non-religious subjects (41,000 words) : total, about 628,000 words.
8 INTRODUCTORY
to be used on the coins of the early Caliphs and the independent Spahpats or Ispahbadhs of Tabaristan for more than a century after the Arab conquest ; and for at least as long additions continued to be made by the Zoroastrians of Persia to the Pahlawi literature, but the latest of them hardly extend beyond the ninth century of our era.1 Practically speaking the natural use of what we understand as Pahlawi ceased about a thousand years ago.
III. The Muhammadan Period (from about A.D. 900 until the present day). When we talk of " Modern Persian," we
mean simply the Persian language as it reappears Modp£s?anNe°' after the Arab Conquest, and after the adoption
of the Muhammadan religion by the vast majority of the inhabitants of Persia. The difference between late Pahlawi and the earliest form of Modern Persian was, save for the Arabic element generally contained in the latter, merely a difference of script, and script in this case was, at this transition period (the ninth century of our era), mainly
a question of religion. In the East, even at the
Dislike of . .
written charac- present day, there is a tendency to associate
ters associated . .
with other written characters much more than language with religion. There are Syrian Christians whose language is Arabic, but who prefer to write their Arabic in the Syriac character ; and these Karshuni writings (for so they are called) form a considerable literature. So also Turkish-speaking Armenians and Greeks often employ the
1 West places the compilation of the Dinkart, Bundahish, and Arda Viraf Ndmak in the ninth century of our era (loc. cit., pp. 433, 436, 437), and regards it as " unlikely that any of the commentators quoted in the Pahlawi translations of the Avesta could have written later than the sixth century." The compilation of the Bahman Yasht, however, is placed by Professor Darmesteter as late as A.D. 1099-1350 (Etudes Iraniennes, vol. ii, p. 69). The interesting Gujastak Abdlish (edited and translated by A. Barthelemy, Paris, 1887) describes a controversy between a Zoro- astrian priest and the heretic Abalish held in the presence of the Caliph al-Ma'mun (A.D. 813-833), and therefore obviously cannot have been composed earlier than the ninth century.
DISUSE OF PAHLAWt SCRIPT $
Armenian and Greek characters respectively when they write Turkish. Similarly the Jews of Persia have a pretty extensive literature written in the Persian language but in the Hebrew character, while Moors of Spain who had forgotten how to speak Arabic wrote Spanish treatises in the Arabic
character.1 The Pahlawi script was even more ^awawrs^rip1?6 closely associated in the Eastern mind with the rapdwyueftudemt° Zoroastrian religion than was the Arabic character
with the faith of Islam ; and when a Persian was converted from the former to the latter creed he gave up, as a rule, once and for all a method of writing which was not only cumbrous and ambiguous in the highest degree, but also fraught with heathen associations. Moreover, writing (and even read- ing) was probably a rare accomplishment amongst the Persians when the Pahlawi character was the means of written com- munication, save amongst the Zoroastrian magopats and dastobars and the professional scribes (dapir}. We read in the K&rn&mak-i-Artakhshir-l-Papakan* or Book of the Deeds of Ardashir, the son of Pdpak (the founder of the Sasanian dynasty) — one of the three Pahlawi romances or "historical novels" which time has spared to us in the original forms — that when this prince " reached the age for the higher
1 It is even said that a debased Arabic script is still used by the peasants inhabiting the valleys of the Alpuxarras mountains in their love-letters.
2 Translated into German by Professor Noldeke of Strassburg, and published in vol. iv of the Beitrdge zur Kunde des Indogermanischen Sprachen on the occasion of Professor Benfey's attainment of the fiftieth year of his Doctorate, as well as in the form of the tirage a part (Gottingen, 1879) here cited (pp. 38-9, and n. 3 on former). The Pahlawi text in the original and in the Roman characters, with Gujarat! translation, edited by Kaikobad Adarbad Nosherwan, was published at Bombay in 1896.
3 The others are the Book of Zarir and the Story of Khusraw Kawddhdn and his Page. The former has been translated by Geiger in the Sitzungs- berichte d. philos.-philolog. u. histor. Class, 1890, and reviewed by Noldeke in vol. xlvi (1892) of the Zeitschrift d. D. Morgenland. Gesellschaft, pp. 136-145. See also Noldeke's Persische Studien, II, in vol. cxxvi of the Sitzungsber. d. K. Akad. in Wien, philos.'histor. Class, pp. l-it
10
INTRODUCTORY
I.
/
education, he attained such proficiency in Writing, Riding, and other accomplishments that he became famous throughout all Pars." So also we read in the account which the great historian Tabari J gives of the reign of Shapur, the son and successor of Ardashir, that " when he came to the place where he wished to found the city of Gunde^Shaptir, he met there an old man named Bel, of whom he enquired whether it would be permitted him to build a town on this site. Bel answered, 4 If I at my advanced age can learn to write, then is it also permitted thee to build a town on this spot,' " by which answer, as Noldeke has pointed out, he meant to imply (though in the issue he proved mistaken) that both things were impossible. To the Pahlawi script, in short, might well be applied the Frenchman's well-known definition of speech as " the art of concealing thought " ; it had no intrinsic merits save as a unique philological puzzle ; and, once deprived of the support of religion, ancient custom, and a conservative priesthood, it could not hold its own against the far more legible and convenient Arabic character, of which, moreover, a knowledge was essential to every Muslim. But the fact cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the peculiarity of Pahlawi (as will be more fully explained presently) lay in the script only, and that a Pahlawi book read aloud by a Zoroastrian priest or scribe of the ninth century of our era would have been perfectly intelligible to a contemporary Persian Muham- madan ; and that if the latter had taken it down in the Arabic
t * See the excellent article on Tabari (Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarir of
Amul in Tabaristan, b. A.D. 839, d. A.D. 923) in the ninth^edition of the
fncydopcedia Britannica. The publication of the text of this immenseT
4\ and most preciousTchronicle by Profe.asgjLjie_-Goeje of Leyden and other
^distinguished Arabic scholars is one of the greatest TecenTachievements
of Oriental learning. A German translation of the portion of this chronicle
which deals with the history of the Sasanian period, accompanied by a
most valuable Introduction and copious notes and appendices, has been
published by Professor N£ldeke(Ley4enjj[^879) under the title Gcschichte
' der Perser und Araber ziir Zeit tier Sasaniden? The story here cited will
be found in its entirety at p. 41 of the last-named work.
BEGINNINGS OF MODERN PERSIAN 11
character as he heard it read, what he wrote would have been simply " Modern Persian " in its most archaic form without admixture of Arabic words. Indeed, so comparatively slight (so far as we can judge) are the changes which the Persian spoken language has undergone since the Sasanian period, that if it were possible for an educated Persian of the present day to be suddenly thrust back over a period of fourteen or fifteen hundred years, he would probably be able to understand at least a good deal of what his countrymen of that period were saying. The gulf which separates that speech from Old Persian is far wider, and the first Sasanian king, notwith- standing the accomplishments which made him " famous throughout all Pdrs," if he could similarly have travelled backwards in time for some six centuries, would have comprehended hardly a word of what was said at the Achaemenian court.
It is impossible to fix a definite date at which Modern
Persian literature may be said to have begun. Probably
Persian converts to Isldm began to write their
Beginning of , . .. . . .
Modern Persian language in the Arabic character very soon after
Literature. . /-, .
the Arab L/onquest — that is to say, some time in the eighth century of our era. The first attempts of this sort were probably mere memoranda and notes,
followed, perhaps, by small manuals of instruction
Prose. . • r T ii T>
in the doctrines or Islam, fragmentary utter- ances in Persian, and even brief narratives, are recorded here and there in the pages of early Arabic writers, and these at least serve to show us that the Persian of late Sasanian and early Muhammadan times was essentially the same as that with which we meet in the earliest monuments of Modern Persian literature. Of actual books of any extent, the Persian translation ot Tabari's history made for Mansur I, the Sdmdnid prince, in A.D. 963 by his minister Bal'ami ; the Materia Medico of Abu Mansur MuwafFaq b. * All of Herdt (preserved to us in the unique MS. of Vienna dated A.D. 1055,
12 INTRODUCTORY
of which a beautiful reprint was published by Seligmann in 1859) composed for the same royal patron ; and the second volume of an old commentary on the Qur'dn (Cambridge University Library, Mm. 4. 15) T belonging, apparently, to about the same period, are, so far as is known, the oldest surviving specimens.
It is very generally assumed, however, that in Persian, as in Arabic, verse preceded prose. One story, cited by several of the native biographers (e.g., Dawlatshah in his Lives of the Poets], ascribes the first Persian couplet to the joint invention of Bahram Gur the Sasinian (A.D. 420-438), and his mistress Dil-aram.2 Another quotes (on the authority of Abu Tahir al-Khatuni, a writer of the twelfth century of our era) a Persian couplet engraved on the walls of the £)asr-i-Shirin (" Palace of Shirin," the beloved of Khusraw Parwiz, A.D. 590-628), said to have been still legible in the time of 'Adudu'd-Dawla the Buwayhid (tenth century of our era). 3 Another tells how one day in Nishapur the Amir 'Abdu'lldh b. Tahir (died A.D. 844) was presented with an old book containing the Romance of Jfamiq and '•Adhra, "a pleasing tale, which wise men com- piled, and dedicated to King Nushirwan " (A.D. 531-579); and how he ordered its destruction, saying that the Qur'an and Traditions of the Prophet ought to suffice for good Muslims, and adding, " this book was written by Magians and is accursed in our eyes." 4 Yet another story given by Dawlatshah attributes the first line of metrical Persian to the
1 See my Description of an Old Persian Commentary in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for July, 1894, pp. 417-524 ; and my Catalogue of the Persian MSS. in the Cambtidge University Library, pp. 13-37.
2 Dawlatshah (ed. Browne), pp. 28-29. See also Blochmann's Prosody of the Persians, p. 2 ; Darmesteter's Origines de la Poesie Persane, first paragraph.
3 See A. de Biberstein Kazimirski's Divan de Menoutchehri (Paris, 1886), p. 7, and Dawlatshah, p. 29.
4 Kazimirski, pp. 6-7. Dawlatshah, p. 30.
BEGINNINGS OF PERSIAN POETRY 13
gleeful utterance of a little -child at play, the child being the son of Ya'qiib b. Layth "the Coppersmith," founder of the Saffari ("Brazier") dynasty (A.D. 868-878).' Muhammad 'Awfi, the author of the oldest extant Biography of Persian Poets* who flourished early in the thirteenth century of our era (A.D. 1210-1235), asserts that the first Persian poem was composed by one 'Abbas of Merv in honour of the Caliph al-Ma'mun, the son of HaVunu'r-Rashid, on the occasion of his entry into that city in A.D. 809, and even cites some verses of the poem in question ; but, though this assertion has been accepted as a historical fact by some scholars of repute,3 the scepticism of others 4 appears to the writer well justified. All that can be safely asserted is that modern Persian literature, especially poetry, had begun to flourish considerably in Khurasan during the first half of the tenth century, especially during the reign of the Sdmanid prince Nasr II (A.D. 913— 942), and thus covers a period of nearly a thousand years, during which time the language has changed so little that the verses cf an early poet like Riidagi are at least as plain to a Persian of to-day as is Shakespear to a modern Englishman.
Most of the legends as to the origin of Persian poetry are, as we have seen, unworthy of very serious attention, and
r*
* See A. de Biberstein Kazimirski's Menoutchehri (Paris, 1886), pp. 7-8, and Dawlatshah (ed. Browne), pp. 30-31.
3 The Lubdbu'l-Albdb, a very rare book, represented, so far as is known, only by two MSS., one (Sprenger 318 ; No. 637 of Pertsch's Catalogue) in the Berlin Library, the other in the possession of Lord Crawford and Balcarres, whose generosity has entrusted to ray hands this priceless treasure, which I propose to publish in my series of Persian historical texts. This MS. formerly belonged to John Bardoe Elliot, by whom it was lent to Nathaniel Bland, who described its contents and scope in vol. ix of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1846), pp. 111-126. See also Sprenger's Catalogue of the Libraries of the King ofOude, pp. 1-6.
3 E.g., Dr. Ethe : Rudagi's Vorlaufcr und Zeitgenossen (in the Morgen- landische Forschungen for 1873), pp. 36-38 ; also the article on Modern Persian Literature by the same scholar in vol. ii of Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, p. 218.
« E.g., A. de Biberstein Kazimirski, Menoutchehri, pp. 8-9.
14 INTRODUCTORY
certainly merit little more credence than the assertion of serious and careful Arab writers, like Tabari (fA.D. 923), and Mas'udi (|A.D. 957), that the first poem ever written was an elegy composed in Syriac by Adam on the death of Abel, of which poem they even give an Arabic metrical rendering * to this effect : —
" The lands are changed and those who dwell upon them ,
The face of earth is marred and girt with gloom ; All that was fair and fragrant now hath faded,
Gone from that comely face the joyous bloom. Alas for my dear son, alas for Abel,
A victim murdered, thrust within the tomb! How can we rest ? That Fiend accursed, unfailing,
Undying, ever at our side doth loom !"
To which the Devil is alleged to have retorted thus : —
" Renounce these lands and those who dwell upon them !
By me was cramped in Paradise thy room, Wherein thy wife and thou were set and stablished,
Thy heart unheeding of the world's dark doom ! Yet did'st thou not escape my snares and scheming,
Till that great gift on which thou did'st presume Was lost to thee, and blasts of wind from Eden,
But for God's grace, had swept thee like a broom ! "
Nevertheless there is one legend indicating the existence of
Persian poetry even in Sasanian times which, partly from the
persistency with which it reappears in various old
sisirianmien. writers of credit,2 partly from a difference in the
51161 fcTO590" f°rm °f t'ie m'nstrel's name which can hardly be
explained save on the assumption that both forms
1 Tabari, vol. i, p. 146 ; Mas'udi, Murtiju'dh-Dhahab (ed. Barbier d« Meynard), vol. i, pp. 65-67 ; Tha'alibi, Qi$asu'l-Anbiyd (ed. Cairo, A.H. 1306)1 PP- 29-30 ; Dawlatshah (ed. Browne), p. 20.
8 Amongst Arabic writers, the earliest mention of Bahlabad which I have found is made in a poem by Khalid b. Fayyad (circ. A.D. 718), cited by Hamadhani, Yaqut and Qazwini, and translated at pp. 59-60 of the J.R. A. S. for January, 1899. Accounts, more or less detailed, are given of
BARB AD THE MINSTREL 15
were transcribed from a Pahlawf original, appears to me worthy of more serious attention. According to this legend, one of the chief ornaments of the court of Khusraw Parwiz, the Sisanian king (A.D. 590—627), was a minstrel named by Persian writers Barbad, but by Arabic authors Bahlabad, Balahbad or Fahlabad, forms of which the first and third point to a Persian original Pahlapat. Bahlabad and Barbad when written in the Arabic character are not easily confounded ; but if written in the Pahlawi character, which has but one sign for A and H on the one hand, and for R and L on the other, they are identical, which fact affords strong evidence that the legends concerning this singer go back ultimately to books written in Pahlawi, in other words to records almost contemporary. Now this Barbad (for simplicity the modern Persian form of the name is adopted here, save in citations from Arabic texts) presents, as I have elsewhere pointed out,1 a striking resemblance to the Samanid poet Rudagi, who flourished in the early part of the tenth century
him by Ibn Qutayba (fA.D. 889) in his 'Uyunu'l-akhbdr (MS. of St. Petersburg Asiatic Museum, No. 691) ; al-Jahidh (}A.D. 8P)) in his Kitdbu'l~Hayawdn (Cambridge MS., Qq. 224) ; Hamadhani (circ. A.D. 903), ed. de Goeje ; the authoi5 of the Kitdbu'l-Mahdsin wa'l-Addad (ed. Van Vloten, pp. 363-64), probably al-Bayhaqi (circ. A.D. 925) ; Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi (|A.D. 940), vol. i, p. 192 or 188 of another edition ; Abu'l-Faraj al-Isfahani (fA.D. 957), in the Kildbu'l-Aghdni ; Yaqiit (fA.D. 1229), vol. iii, pp. 250 et seqq. ; and al- Qazwini (fA.D. 1283), in his Athdru'l-Bildd (pp. 154-55, 230-231, 295-297). Of Persian writers who allude to him we may mention Sharif-i-Mujallidi (date uncertain : cited by Nidhami-i-'Arudi-i-Samarqandi in the Chahdr Maqdla) ; Firdawsi (fcirc. A.D. 415), in the Shdhndma ; Nidhami of Ganja (\ circ; A.D. 1203) in his Khusraw wa Shirin, and the other Nidhami above cited (t circ. A.D. 1160) ; Muhammad 'Awfi(circ. A.D. 1228) ; and Hamdu'llah Mustawfi of Qazvvin (circ. A.D. 1340) in the Tdrikh-i-Guzida. I am in- debted to Baron V. Rosen, of St. Petersburg, for calling my attention to several of the above references, which I had overlooked when writing the article referred to in the next note.
1 See my article in the J. R. A. S. for January, 1899 (pp. 37-69), on The Sources of Dawlatshdh ; with some remarks on the Materials avail- able for a Literary History of Persia, and an Excursus on Barbad and
i6 INTRODUCTORY
of our era; and indeed the two are already associated by an early poet, Sharif-i-Mujallidf of Gurgan, who sings : —
" From all the treasures hoarded by the Houses Of Sasan and of Saman, in our days Nothing survives except the song of Barbad, Nothing is left save Rudagi's sweet lays."
For in all the accounts of Rudagi which we possess his most remarkable achievement is the song which he composed and sung in the presence of the Samanid Amir Nasr b. Ahmad to induce that Prince to abandon the charms of Herat and its environs, and to return to his native Bukhara, which he had neglected for four years. The extreme simplicity of this song and its entire lack of rhetorical adornment, have been noticed by most of those who have described this incident, by some (e.g. Nidhami-i-'Arudi of Samarqand) with approval, by others, such as Dawlatshah, with disapprobation, mixed with surprise that words so simple could produce so powerful an effect. And indeed it is rather a ballad than a formal poem of the artificial and rather stilted type most admired in those decadent days to which Dawlatshah belongs, and in which, as he says, " If any one were to produce such a poem in the presence of kings or nobles, it would meet with the reprobation of all." To the musical skill of the minstrel, and his cunning on the harp wherewith he accompanied his singing, the simple ballad, of which a paraphrase is here offered, no doubt owed much : —
" The Ju-yi-Muliyan we call to mind, We long for those dear friends long left behind. The sands of Oxus, toilsome though they be, Beneath my feet were soft as silk to me. Glad at the friends' return, the Oxus deep Up to our girths in laughing waves shall leap. Long live Bukhara ! Be thou of good cheer ! Joyous towards thee hasteth our Amir ! The Moon's the Prince, Bukhara is the sky ; O Sky, the Moon shall light thee by and by I Bukhara is the Mead, the Cypress he; Receive at last, O Mead, thy Cypress-tree 1"
BARB AD AND RtfDAGt I?
" When Rudagi reached this verse," adds the oldest authority for this narrative (Nidharni-i-'Ariidi of Samarqand), "the Amir was so much affected that he descended from his throne, bestrode the horse of the sentinel on duty, and set off for Bukhara in such haste that they carried his riding boots after him for two parasangs, as far as Bunina, where he put them on ; neither did he draw rein anywhere till he reached Bukhara ; and Rudagi received from the army the double of that five thousand dinars [which they had promised him in the event of his success]."
Thus Rudagi was as much harper, ballad singer, and impro- visatore as poet, resembling, probably, the minstrels whose tasnifs, or topical ballads, may be heard to-day at any Persian entertainment of which music and singing form a part ; resembling also, as has been pointed out, that dimly visible Barbad or Bahlabad of the old Sasanian days. Of the ten men reckoned by the Persians incomparable each in his own way, he was one ; and herein lay his special virtue and merit, that when aught must be made known to King Khusraw Parwiz which none other dared utter for terror of the royal displeasure, Barbad would weave it dexterously into a song, and sing it before the king. Parwiz had a horse called Shabdiz, beautiful and intelligent beyond all others ; and so greatly did the king love Shabdiz that he swore to slay that man who should bring the tidings of his death. So when Shabdiz died, the Master of the Horse prayed Bahlabad to make it known to the king in a song, of which Parwiz listening divined the purport and cried, "Woe unto thee ! Shabdiz is dead !" "It is the king who sayeth it," replied the minstrel ; and so escaped the threatened death and made the king's oath of no effect. Thus is the tale told by the Arab poet, Khalid b. Fayyad, who lived little more than a century after Khusraw Parwiz : — &
"And Khusraw, King of kings, him too an arrow Plumed from the wings of Death did sorely smite, E'en as he slept in Shirin's soft embraces Amidst brocades and perfumes, through the night Dreaming of Shabdiz whom he used to ride, His noble steed, his glory and his pride,
3
1 8 INTRODUCTORY
He with an oath most solemn and most binding,
Not to be loosed, had sworn upon the Fire
That whoso first should say, ' Shabdiz hath perished/
Should die upon the cross in torments dire ;
Until one morn that horse lay low in death
Like whom no horse hath been since man drew breath
Four strings wailed o'er him, while the minstrel kindled
Pity and passion by the witchery
Of his left hand, and, while the strings vibrated,
Chanted a wailing Persian threnody,
Till the King cried, ' My horse Shabdiz is dead ! ' 'It is the King that sayeth it,' they said."
Other minstrels of this old time are mentioned, whose names alone are preserved to us : Afarin, Khusrawani, Madharastam,1 and the harper Sakisa,2 beings yet more shadowy than Barbad, of whose notes not so much as an echo has reached our time. Yet can we hardly doubt that those old Sasanian halls and palaces lacked not this ornament of song, whereof some reflex at least passed over into Muhammadan times. For though the modern Persian prosody be modelled on that of the Arabs, there are types of verse — notably the quatrain (rubdli] and the narrative poem in doublets (mathnawi) — which are to all appearance indigenous. Whether, as Darmesteter seems to think,3 there is sufficient evidence to warrant us in believing that romantic poetry existed in Persia even in Achaemenian times is too problematical a question to be discussed in this place.
Hitherto we have considered only the history of the Persian
language and the Persian power in the narrower sense of the
_.. . . t term. We have now to extend the field of inquiry
Wider view of 4 • i j
the iranian so as to include the whole Iranian people and their literary remains. The ground on which we
* Al-Bayhaqi's Kitdbu'l-Mahdsin {ed. Van Vloten), p. 363.
* Nidhami of Ganja's Khusraw wa Shirin.
3 Darmesteter' s Origines de la Potsie Per sane (Paris, 1887), p. 3,
THE MEDES 19
now enter is, unfortunately, much less sure than that which we have hitherto traversed ; the problems which we shall encounter are far more complicated, and their solutions are, in many cases, uncertain and conjectural.
The oldest Persian dynasty, the Achaemenian, with which we began our retrospect of Persian history, rose by the fall of a power not less famous than itself, that of des' the Medes, whom from our earliest days we are accustomed to associate with the Persians. In the modern sense of the term, indeed, they were Persians, but of the West, not of the South, having their centre and capital at Ecbatana (Hagmatana of the Old Persian inscriptions, now H.amadan\ not at Persepolis (Sasanian Istakhr^ near Shirdz, the present chief town of Fars). The actual boundaries of Media cannot be precisely defined, but, roughly speaking, it extended from the Mountains of Azarbayjdn (Atropatene) on the north to Susiana (Khuzistdn) on the south, and from the Zagros Mountains on the east to about the line of the modern Tihran- Isfahdn road, with a north-eastern prolongation including the whole or part of Mdzandardn. In modern phraseology, there- fore, it comprised Kurdistan, Luristan the northern part of Khuzistan, the western part of 'Iraq-i-'Ajami, and the southern part of Azarbdyjdn. Amongst the hardy mountaineers of this wide region arose the Medic power. The name of Media does not, like that of Persia, still survive in the land to which it originally belonged, but, as has been shown by de Lagarde and Olshausen, it continued, even in Muhammadan times, under the form Mah (Old Persian Mdda) to enter into certain place names, such as Mdh-Khfa, Mali-Basra, Mdh-Nahdwand.1
1 Already, however, in A.D. 1700, the celebrated Cambridge scholar and pupil of Abraham Wheelock, Dr. Hyde, who in later life became attached to the University of Oxford as Professor of Hebrew, Laudian Professor of Arabic, and Keeper of the Bodleian Library, had recognised the identity of Mdh with Mdda (see Vet. Pers. Rclig. Hist., ed. 1760, p. 424).
20 INTRODUCTORY
The Medes, unfortunately, unlike the Persians, have left no records of their achievements, and we are consequently
dependent for information concerning them on M^rcesof tjae records of other nations who had direct or
indirect knowledge of them, notably the Assyrians, Jews, and Greeks. As regards the Assyrian records, Amadana (Hamaddn), the capital of the Medes, is mentioned in an
inscription of Tiglath Pileser (circ. B.C. noo) Assymn as a subject territory1 ; and it is again mentioned
in an inscription of the ninth century before Christ. Salmonassar-Sargon (B.C. 731-713) boasts that he had made his name feared in distant Media, and the same region is
referred to by his successor Sennacherib, and by Jewish records. Esar-haddon (B.C. 680-669). ^n 2 Kings xvii, 6
we read that " in the ninth year of Hoshea " (B.C. 722) "the King of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes ; " and this statement is repeated in verse n of the next chapter.2 Of the three Greek historians whose works are primary sources for this period, Herodotus merits the first mention, both
on account of his veracity (to which the cuneiform Greet records, inscriptions bear abundant testimony) and because
Herodotus. .... . . .
ctesias. his history alone oi the three is preserved to us in its entirety. Ctesias, who flourished in the fifth century before Christ, was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, and professed to derive his information from the Persian royal archives. This statement at least affords evidence of the existence of such documents, which are also referred to in the Book of Esther, where we read (chap, vi, i) that King Ahasueras, being unable to sleep, "commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles ; " and (chap, ii, 23) that the plot against the king's life devised by Bigthan and Teresh
Spiegel, Eranischc Alterthumskunde, ii, 246. • Noldeke, Aufsatze zur Persischen Geschichte (Leipzig, 1887), p. 5.
THE MEDES 21
and disclosed by Mordecai " was written in the book of the chronicles before the King." Whether because Ctesias im- perfectly understood or deliberately misrepresented these records, or because the records themselves were falsified (a thing which modern analogies render conceivable), the prevailing view is that little reliance can be placed on his narrative, which, moreover, is only preserved to us in a fragmentary condition by much later writers, such as Photius (A.D. 820-891). Berosus was a Chaldsean priest who lived in the time of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors, and translated into Greek, for his patron Antiochus of Syria, the records of his country. Of his work also fragments only are preserved to us by later writers, Polyhistor and Apollodorus (first century before Christ), who are cited by Eusebius and Syncellus.
The Medes, according to Herodotus, were the first of the peoples subject to Assyria who succeeded in securing their independence, after they had borne the yoke for 520 years. This took place about B.C. 700, and a year or two later Deioces (At?toKfje)j the first of the four Medic kings mentioned by Herodotus, estab- lished himself on the throne. An Assyrian record of B.C. 715 mentions a Dayaukku (= Deioces) who had been led away captive; and in B.C. 71? King Sargon of
Phraorte*. ' °
Assyria subdued the Bit Dayaukku, or " Land of Deioces." Phraortes (Fravartish in the Old Persian inscriptions) succeeded in B.C. 647, and extended his rule over the Persians
as well as his own countrymen, the Medes.
Cyaxares.
He in turn was succeeded in B.C. 025 by Cyaxares (Huvakhshatara), who, in conjunction with the Babylonian king, destroyed Nineveh in B.C. 607, and con- cluded peace with the Lydians in B.C. 585, in consequence of a total eclipse of the sun which took place on May 28th of that year, and which was regarded by both sides as an indication of Divine displeasure. In the same year, probably,
22 INTRODUCTORY
he died, and was followed by his son Astyages, who was overthrown by Cyrus the Achaemenian in B.C. 550, when the power passed from the West- Irinian Medes to the South-Irinian Persians.
With the exploits of the Medes, however, we are not here
concerned. The two questions in connection with them
which are of importance from our present point of view are —
first, what was their language ? second, what was their religion ?
It has been hitherto assumed, in accordance with the most
prevalent, and, in the opinion of the writer, the most
probable view, that the Medes were an Iranian
Th ulenMedes °f race speaking an Iranian language closely akin
to Old Persian. This is the view taken, for
instance, by Noldeke, who, in concluding his account of
the Medic Empire, says x : —
" Perhaps careful examinations of the neighbourhood of Hamadan, or excavations, may still some day bring to light other traces of that ancient time. It would be of the greatest value if inscriptions of the Medic kings should chance to be found ; I should conjecture that these, both in language and script, would be quite similar to those of the Persian kings."
Darmesteter, whose views will be discussed at greater length presently, goes further, and declares that the language of the Avesta, the so-called Zend language, is the language of Media, the Medic tongue.
" La conclusion qui s'impose," says he,a after adducing evidence in favour of his view, "c'est que la tradition parsie et 1'Avesta, confirmes par des temoignages etrangers, voient le centre et le
1 Aufsatze zurPersisch. Gesch. (Leipzig, 1887), p. 12.
* Darmesteter, Etudes Iraniennes, vol. i, pp. 12, 13. M. de Harlez (Manuel de la Langue de I' Avesta, 1882, pp. xi, and Introduction a I'etude de V Avesta et de la religion Mazdeene, 1881, pp. xlv. et seqq.) takes the same view. " Nous croyons avoir demontre que 1' Avesta doit etre attribue a la Medie, que sa langue etait celle des Mages. Toutefois, comme cette opinion n'est point encore universellement admise, nous preferons employer, a 1'exemple des Parses, le terme ' Avestique ' exempt certainement de tout erreur. Le mot ' Zend ' meme est preferable a ' Vieux-Bactrien,' parce que c'est un terme de convention dont 1'emploi ne prejuge rien."
THE MEDES 23
bcrceau du Zoroastrisme, soit en Atropatene, soit a Rat, dans 1'un et 1'autre cas en Medic. . . . Je crois que les droits de 1'Atropatene sont mieux etablis, et que c'est de la que le Zoroastrisme a pris sa course de 1' Quest a 1'Est. En tout cas, le Zoroastrisme est unc chose mtdique, el FAvesta est Tceuvre des pretres medes. ... II suit . . . par le temoignage externe des classiques joint au temoignage intrinseque des livres zends et de la tradition native, que 1'A vesta est 1'ceuvre des Mages, que le zend est la langue de la Medie ancienne, et que Ton aurait le droit de remplacer le nom impropre de langue zende pai- le terme de langue medique."
A totally different view, which ought not to pass unnoticed, is held by Oppert, and set forth at length in his work Le
Peuple et la Langue des Medes. The inscriptions t£atPf£SMedcs °^ ^6 Achasmenian kings, as is well known, are werc r»[e.ranian drawn up in three different languages, of which
the first is Old Persian and the third Assyrian. As to the second, concerning the nature of which much doubt has prevailed, M. Oppert holds that it is Medic, and that it is not an Aryan but a Turanian tongue ; which astonishing opinion he supports by many ingenious arguments. The very name of Media (Mada) he explains by a Sumerian word mada^ meaning "country"; and the names of the Medic kings given by Ctesias he regards as the Aryan equivalents of the Aryanized Turanian names given by Herodotus and in the Old Persian inscriptions. Thus, for instance, in his view, the name of the first Medic king of Herodotus was compounded of daya (other) and ukku (law), the Aryanized or Persianized form of which was probably Ddhyuka^ " le reunisseur des pays " ; wh'ile the Persian translation of the same was the form given by Ctesias, A/oratoc, which " recalls to us the Persian Artayu, from arta^ 'law,' and dyu^ c reuniting.'" Of the six tribes of the Medes mentioned by Herodotus (bk. i, ch. ci), Oppert admits that the names are Aryan ; but he contends that in the case of two at least, the Bovaai and the Sr/oou^arnC) we have to do with Aryan translations of the original names? which he believe^
24 INTRODUCTORY
to have been Turanian, and to have denoted respectively " autochthones " and " vivant dans les tentes."
There are but very few scholars who are qualified to re- survey the ground traversed by M. Oppert and to form an independent judgment of his results in matters of Dar"iew-eter s Detail 5 but, as regards his general conclusions, we concur with DarmesteteV in the summary state- ment of objections to M. Oppert's theory wherewith he closes his review of the book in question J : —
" Nous ne voyons done pas de raison suffisante pour abandonner 1'opinion traditionelle, que la langue des Medes etait une langue aryenne, opinion qui a pour elle, en somme, le temoignage direct de Strabon, er le temoignage indirect d'Herodote, sans parler des raisons tres fortes qui font de la Medie le lieu d'origine du Zend Avesta et par suite la patrie du zend."
In the absence of further discoveries, the theory that the Medes were an Iranian people speaking an Iranian language closely akin to Old Persian is the view which we must con- tinue to regard as most probable.
It has already been said that the Medic kings, unlike the Achaemenians, left no records of their achievements ; while, as regards their language, some scholars, like Noldeke, sta' think that, though specimens of it may be brought to light by future discoveries, none are at present accessible ; others, like Oppert, find such specimens in the cuneiform inscriptions of the second class ; while others, like Darmesteter, believe that we possess in the ancient scriptures of the Zoroastrians, the Zend-Avesta, an ample specimen not only of the language, but also of the literature, of the Medes. That the language of the Avesta is an Iranian language, standing to Old Persian in the relation of sister, not of daughter or mother, is proved beyond all reasonable doubt. As to the part of Iran where it flourished, there is not, however, the
1 Etudes Iramennes, ii, p. 14 ; reprinted from the Revue Critique for June 21, 1889.
LANGUAGE OF THE AVESTA **>
same unanimity ; for while Darmesteter, as we have seen, regards it as the language of Media, the opinion prevalent in Germany is that it was the language of Bactria, and it has even become fashionable to speak of it as " Old Bactrian '* and " East Iranian." Darmesteter, in his usual clear and concise way, sums up the arguments of the East Iratiian or Bactrian
theory before proceeding to refute them, as follows * : — I
(1) Zend is not the language of Persia.
(2) It is in Bactria that, according to tradition, Zoroaster made his first important conquest, King Gushtasp.
(3) The geography of the Avesta only knows the east of Iran.
" The first fact," he continues, " is correct, but purely negative ; it excludes Persia [z'.e.v Persis proper] from the question, but leaves free all the rest of Iran.
" The second fact is correct, but only proves that Bactria plays a great part in the religious Epic of Zoroastrianism ; the struggles maintained by the Iranians against the idolatrous Turanians, of which Bactria, by its geographical position, was the natural theatre, must necessarily have drawn the thoughts of the faithful to this part of Iran, where the worshippers of Ahura Mazda were at death- grips with the worshippers of the daevas, and which formed the frontier-post of Ormazd against barbarous idolatry ; it is even very probable that the legends concerning the conversion of Bactria and of King Gushtasp bequeath to us a historic recollection of the con- quests of Zoroastrianism in the East. Nowhere, however, is Bactria represented as the cradle of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism ; Pars! tradition is unanimous and consistent in placing this cradle, not in the East, in Bactria, but in the West, in Atropatene ; and not only Pars! tradition, but the Avesta itself, for —
" The third fact adduced is incorrect : the Avesta knows the North and West of Iran as well as the East : the first chapter of the Vendidad, which describes Iran as it was known to the authors of the Vendidad, opens the enumeration of the Iranian regions by the Erdn-Vej, washed by the Good Daitya (I, 3) ; now the Erdn-Vej is on the borders of Atropatene, and the Good Daitya is the Araxes.* It is equally familiar with the North, for it cites Rhagae, the of the Greeks, the Ray of the moderns, in Media."
1 Etudes Iramennes, vol. i, pp. 1C— 12.
* This view is by no means universally admitted. Geiger, for instance, places the Airy ana Vaeja, or Eran~Vej, in the region of the Pamirs.
26
One piece or philological evidence is adduced by Darme- steter in support of his opinion that the language of the Avesta is the language of the Medes. The modern Persian word for dog, sagy implies, says he,1 the existence of an Old Persian form saka (not actually occurring in the meagre documents on wftich we depend for our direct knowledge of the ancient language of Pars). Herodotus, however, mentions (I, no) that in the language of the Medes the dog was called <r;raKa, which rather resembles the Avestic word span (San- skrit svan, Greek KVO>I>). And it is curious that this word, in the form ispa, still exists 2 in some of the Persian dialects, such as those of Qohrud (near Kdshan) and Natanz. M. Clement Huart, who has contributed to the Journal
Huart's develop- ,*•,,• i /- • «
ment of Darme- Asiatique 3 a number or very ingenious and
steter's view. . . • T» • t- i
interesting papers on various Persian dialects, such as those of Yazd, Siwand, and the curious Jawiddn-i-Kabir (the principal work of the heretical Huruff sect,4 which arose in Persia in the fifteenth century of our era), has still further developed Darmesteter's views, and has endeavoured to show that several of the dialects spoken in remote and mountainous places in Persia (especially in the West, i.e., in Media) are descended from the language of the Avesta ; and to these dialects he proposes to apply the term " Modern Medic," or
According to his interpretation of the data contained in ch. i of the Vendidad, the most western regions known to the Avesta are Vehrtuina (Hyrcania, the modern Gurgan or Jurjan), Rangha (Rhagae, or Ray, near Tihran, the modern capital), and Varena " the four-cornered," cor- responding, according to his view, to the eastern portion of Mazan- daran.
1 Loc. cit., p. 13.
3 Cy. my Year amongst the Persians, p. 189 ; Polak's Persien, vol. i, p. 265.
3 J.A. for 1885, vol. vi, pp. 502-545, les Quatrains de Bdbd Tdhir; ibid, for 1888, vol. xi, pp. 298-302, Note sur lepretcndu Deri des Parsis des Yezd , ibid. 1889, xiv, pp. 238-270, Notice d'un manuscrit Pehlevi-Musulman ; ibid. 1893, vol. i, pp. 241-265, Le Dialecte Persan de Siwend.
4 See my article on the Literature and Doctrines of the Hurufi Sect in th$ J.R.4.S. for January, 1898, pp. 61-94.
PERSIAN DIALECTS 27
" Pehlevi-Musulman." J He remarks that, amongst other differences, the root kar- underlies the whole verb which signifies " to do," " to make," in the Avestic language ; while in Old Persian the aorist, or imperative, stern of this verb (as in Modern Persian ) is k un- ; and again that the root sig- nifying " to speak," " to say," in Avestic is aoj-, vach-y while in Old Persian it is gaub-. Now while in Modern Persian (which, as we have seen, is the lineal descendant of Old Persian) the verbs signifying "to do," "to say," are kardan (imperative kun] and gujtan (imperative gu, ghy)y in those dialects which he calls " Modern Medic " the stem kar- is preserved throughout (aorist karam instead of kunam^ &c.), and words denoting " speech," " to speak," are derived from a root vdj- or some similar basis corresponding to the Avestic aoj-y vach-. This test is employed by M. Huart in classifying a given dialect as " Medic " or " Persian." According to this ingenious theory the language of the Avesta is still represented in Persia by a number of dialects, such as those used in the quatrains of Baba T&hir (beginning of the eleventh century), in the *J awidan-i-Kabir (fifteenth century), and, at the present day, in the districts of Qohrud and Siwand, and amongst the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kirman. It is also to be noted that the word for " I " in the Talish dialect is, according to Berdsine,2 az, which appears to be a survival of the Avestic azem (Old Persian adam}. It is to be expected that a fuller and more exhaustive study of the dialects still spoken in various parts of Persia (which, notwithstanding the rich materials collected, and in part published, by Zhukovski,3 are still inadequately known to us) will throw more light on this question. Darmesteter, however, in another work (Chansons
1 They are, in fact, commonly called Pahlawi by the Persians, and were so as early as the fourteenth century of our era — e.g., by Hamdu'llah Mus- tavvfi of Qazwin. Cf. Polak, loc. cit.
* Recherches sur les Dialectes Persans, Kazan, 1853, pp. 31, etseqq.
3 Materialy did izuchcma Persidskikh Narechij, part i (Dialects of Kashan, Vanishun, Qohrud, Keshe, and Zefre), St. Petersburg, 1888.
28 INTRODUCTORY
populaire des Afghans, pp. Ixii-lxv), has endeavoured to show that the Pashto or Pakhto language of Afghanistan represents the chief surviving descendant of the old Avestic tongue, which theory seems to militate against the view set forth in his Etudes Iraniennes. It is possible, however, that the two are really compatible ; that Zoroaster, of the Medic tribe of the Magians (Magush), brought his doctrine from Atropatene (Azarbayjan) in the extreme north-west of Iran to Bactria in the extreme north-east, where he achieved his first signal success by con- verting King Vishtaspa (Gushtasp) ; that the dialects of Atropatene and Bactria, and, indeed, of all North Iran, were very similar ; and that in the Avesta, as suggested by De Harlez, the so-called Gatha dialect represents the latter, and the ordinary Avestic of the Vendidad the former. All this, however, is mere conjecture, which at best can only be regarded as a plausible hypothesis.
It is not less difficult to speak with certainty as to the
religion of the Medes than as to their language ; nay, in spite
of their numerous inscriptions it has not yet been
R!lia8nc"entfthe decided whether or no the Achsemenians who
Zoroufeir. succeeded them did or did not hold the faith of
Zoroaster, as to whose personality, date, and
native land likewise the most various opinions have been
emitted. By some the very existence of a historical Zoroaster
has been denied ; by others his personality has been found
clearly and sharply revealed in the Gathas, which they hold to
be, if not his actual utterances, at least the words of his
immediate disciples. By some his date has been fixed in the
Vedic period — 1,800, 2,000, even 6,000 years before Christ,
while by others he is placed in the seventh century B.C.
By some he is, as we have seen, regarded as of Bactria, in the
extreme north-east of Persia, by others of Atropatene, in the
extreme north-west. So too with the Avesta, the sacred
scripture of his adherents, which Darmesteter in his Tra-
4i(ction nouvelle (dnnales du Musee Gulmet^ vols. xxi-xxiv,
DATE OF THE A VEST A 29
Paris, 1892-3) has striven to drag down — at least in part — from a remote antiquity even into post-Christian times. Not only has opinion varied thus widely ; feeling has run high ; nay, in the opinion of that eminent scholar and courageous traveller, M. HaleVy, expressed in conversation with the writer, the calm domain of Science has been invaded by racial prejudices and national antipathies. We had been discussing the views set forth in Darmesteter's work above mentioned, at that time just published ; and I had expressed surprise at the very recent date therein assigned to the Avesta, and inquired whether those numerous and eminent scholars who maintained its great antiquity had no reason for their assertion. " Reason enough," was the answer ; " their hatred of the Semitic races, their pride in their Aryan descent. Loath to accord to the Jews any priority or excellence over the Aryan peoples, they belittle Moses to glorify Zoroaster, and with one hand drag down the Pentateuch while with the other they raise up the Avesta ! " Sad enough, if true, that this accursed racial feeling, responsible for so many crimes, should not leave un- molested even these high levels where passion should have no place !
To enter these lists is not for those who, like the writer, have devoted themselves to the literature and thought of Muhammadan times, a field sufficiently vast and sufficiently unexplored to satisfy the most ambitious and the most industrious ; preferable, moreover, in this, that here we "stand on firm historic ground, and deal not with dates which oscillate over centuries and scenes which swing from Bactria to Atro- patene. Yet all honour to those who so courageously labour in those arid fields of a remote antiquity, striving with infinite toil and tact to bring history out of legend, and order out of chaos ! From such must we needs choose a guide in forming our views about that time and those events which, though strongly appealing to our curiosity, lie beyond the range of our own studies. Sanest and skilfulest of such guides, trained in
30 INTRODUCTORY
the profundity of the German school, yet gifted with some- thing of that clearness as to the issues and alternatives of every question which gives so great a charm to French science, and adding to these that combination of fairness and decision with which we are wont to credit the Anglo-Saxon genius, is Professor A. V. Williams Jackson of Columbia University, New York. In a series of admirable papers published in the Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, the American 'Journal of Philology, &c., he has successively dealt with most of the difficult questions above alluded to, and with many other points connected with the history and doctrine of Zoro- astrianism ; and has finally summed up his views in a work, at once most scholarly and most readable, entitled Zoroaster, the Prophet of indent Iran (New York, 1899). His principal conclusions are as follows : —
I. That Zoroaster was a perfectly historical personage, a member of the Median tribe of the Magi.
2. That he flourished about the middle of the seventh
wmiamsTack- century before Christ — that is, during the dominion of
s°n's the Medes and before the rise of the Achaemenian
conclusions. , .. , .
power — and died about B.C. 583, aged 77.
3. That he was a native of Western Persia (Atropatene or Media), but that his first notable success was gained in Bactria (Balkh), where he succeeded in converting King Vishtaspa (Gushtasp).
4. That the Gathas (admittedly the oldest portion of the Avesta) reflect with fidelity the substance of his original preaching in Balkh.
5. That from Bactria the religion of Zoroaster spread rapidly throughout Persia, and was dominant in Pars (Persis proper) under the later ^Achaemenians, but that the date of its introduction into this part of Iran and its adoption by the people and rulers of Pars is uncertain.
Though these conclusions are not universally accepted, the evidence, in the opinion of the writer, is strongly in their favour, more particularly the evidence of native tradition in the period immediately succeeding the Muhammadan Con- quest, which is derived mainly from the tradition current in
THE CRIME OF " MA GICIDE " }t
Sasinian times. And it may be remarked that since it is not the habit of writers of this class to understate facts, it
appears unlikely that they should concur in assign- Reasonableness • rm i i A t of these ing to Zoroaster too modern a date. As regards
the Medic origin of Zoroastrianism, Geiger, who is in full accord with both Darmesteter and Jackson on this point, remarks that though the language of the Avesta belongs, in his opinion, to the north-east of Persia (Bactria), the doctrines were, as all Parsi tradition indicates, introduced there by Medic dthravans, or fire-priests, these fithravans being uniformly repre- sented as wanderers and missionaries in the north-east, whose home was in Ragha (Ray) and Media. Darmesteter,1 in this connection, has called attention to the interesting fact that the
word Moghu (from which we get "Magian") uMoMhe^enn onty occurs m one passage in the Avesta (Yasna ' Ma!vertain the xliv> 25)> in the compound Moghutbish, "a hater"
or " injurer of the Magi " ; for it was as Magi of Medic race, not as dthravans of Zoroastrian faith, that they were exposed to the hatred and jealousy of the Persians proper, whose power succeeded that of the Medes, and whose supre- macy was threatened from time to time in early Achaemenian
days by Medic insurrections, notably by that of Tsmerdes°~ Gaumata the Magian (Magush}^ the impersonator
of Bardiya (Smerdes) the son of CyTus^wKom Darius slew, as he himself relates in his inscription at Behistun in the following words : —
" Says Darius the King : Thereafter was a man, a Magian, Gaumata by name ; from Pisiyauvada did he arise, from a mountain there named Arakadris. In the month of Viyakhna, on the fourteenth day, then was it that he rose. Thus did he deceive the people [saying], ' I am Bardiya, son of Cyrus (Kuru\ brother of Cambyses (Kambu- jiya}.' Thereupon all the people revolted against Cambyses, thej went over to him, both Persia and Media, and likewise the other
1 Translation of the Avcsta (vol. i, pp. li-lii) in the Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1880),-
31 INTRODUCTORY
provinces. He seized the Throne : in the month of Garmapada, on the ninth day, then was it that he seized the Throne. Thereupon Cambyses died, slain by his own hand.
" Says Darius the King : This Throne which Gaumata the Magian
took away from Cambyses, this Throne was from of old in our Family.
So Gaumata the Magian took away from Cambyses
Citation from
the inscription both Persia and Media and the other provinces, he of Danus. appropriated them to himself, he was king. " Says Darius the King : There was no one, neither Persian, nor Mede, nor any one of our family, who could wrest the kingdom from this Gaumata the Magian : the people feared him, for many people did Bardiya slay who had known him formerly : for this cause did he slay the people, ' lest they should recognise me [and know] that I am not Bardiya the son of Cyrus.' None dared say aught concerning Gaumata the Magian until I came. Then I called on Ahuramazda for help : Ahuramazda brought me help : in the month of Bagayadish, on the tenth day, then it was that I with a few men slew that Gau- mata the Magian, and those who were the foremost of his followers. In Media is a fortress named Cikathauvatish, in the district named Nicaya : there slew I him : I took from him the kingdom ; by the Grace of Ahuramazda I became King ; Ahuramazda gave to me the kingdom.
\N " Says Darius the King : The kingdom which had been alienated from our house, that I restored : in its place did I establish it : as [it was] before, so I made it : the temples which Gaumata the Magian overthrew I restored to the people, the markets, and the flocks, and the dwellings according to clans which Gaumata the Magian had taken away from them. I established the people in their [former] places, Persia, Media, and the other provinces. Thus did I restore that which had been taken away as it was before : by the Grace of Ahuramazda have I done this, I laboured until I restored this our clan to its position as it was before, so, by the Grace of Ahuramazda, did I restore our clan as [it was] when Gaumata the Magian had not eaten it up. •
" Says Darius the King : This is what I did when I became king."
Of the nine rebel kings whom, in nineteen battles, Darius defeated and took captive, Gaumata the Magian, who " made Persia (Pars) revolt," was the first but not the only Mede. Fravartish (Phraortes), who "made Media revolt," and was taken prisoner at Ray, mutilated, and finally crucified at Hamadan (Ecbatana, the old Medic capital), claimed to be "of
ORIGIN OF THE IRANIANS 33
the race of Huvakhshatara " (Cyaxares, the third Medic king of Herodotus), and so did Chitratakhma, who rebelled in Sagar-
tia, and was crucified at Arbfl (Arbira). We find, 0trheCtcnd^c '* i$ true' Medic generals and soldiers fighting supDaer?Jsd by loyally f°r Darius, but nevertheless between the
Mede and the Persian at this time such antagonism must have existed as between Scotch and English in the days of the Edwards. Almost the same in race and language — ojUoyAwrroi irapa piicpov — and probably the same in religion, the jealousy between Mede and Persian was at this time a powerful factor in history, and, as Darmesteter says, the Magian priest of Media, though respected and feared in his priestly capacity, and even held indispensable for the proper celebration of religious rites, was none the less liable to the hatred and enmity of the southern Persian.
As it is the aim of this book to trace the developments of post-Muhammadan literature and thought in Persia, or in other
words the literary history of the last thousand years,
Periods earlier . , t_ . f ....
thnn the Medic with only such reference to earlier times as is
distinguishable • • ,- , i- r i • i •
in the history of requisite for a proper understanding of thissumect,
the Persian race. \ r . b . . J
a more detailed discussion of the ancient times of which we have been speaking would be out of place. In this chapter we have gone back to the beginning of the Medic power (about B.C. 700), at which point the historical period may be said to commence ; but it is possible to distinguish, in the dim light of antiquity, still earlier periods, as has been done by Spiegel in his excellent Erdnische Alterthumskundt (3 vols., Leipzig, 1871-78). Putting aside the vexed question of an original Aryan race spreading outwards in all directions from a common centre, it at least seems pretty certain that the Indian* and Persians were once united in a common Indo- Iranian race located somewhere in the Panjab. The pretty theory as to the causes which led to the cleavage of this com- munity which was so ingeniously advanced by Max Miiller J 1 See Max Miiller's Selected Essays (London, 1881), vol. ii, pp. 132-134,
4
34 INTRODUCTORY
is, I believe, generally abandoned, but it is so attractive that it seems a pity to pass it over.
Briefly stated, this theory hinges upon the occurrence in the Vedas of the Hindus and the Avesta of the Zoroastrians of
certain theological terms, which, though identical Matheo^ers as regards etymology, are here diametrically
opposed. Deva in Sanskrit means " bright," and he Devasy or " Bright ones," are the Hindu gods. In the Avesta, on the other hand, the daevas (Modern Persian dh] are devils, and the Zoroastrian, in his confession of faith, solemnly declares : " I cease to be a worshipper of the daevas ; " he renounces these daevas^ devas, or Hindu gods, and becomes the servant of Ahura Mazda. Now it is a phonetic law that Persian h corresponds to Sanskrit s (e.g., Hind, whence we get our name for India, represents Sind, that being naturally the part of India best known to the Persians), so the Ahura of the Avesta is equivalent to asura in Sanskrit, which means an evil spirit or devil. And so, from these two little words, Max Miiller conjures up a most convincing picture of Zoroaster, the reformer and prophet, rising up amongst the still united Indo-Iranian community to protest against the degradation of a polytheistic nature-worship which had gradually replaced the purer conceptions of an earlier time j emphasising his dis- approval by making the gods of the system he laboured to overthrow the devils of his own ; and finally, with his faithful following, breaking away in an ancient hijra from the stiff-necked " worshippers of the daevas ** to find a new home in that more Western land to which we now give the common name of Persia. This theory, it may be remarked, depended in great measure on the Bactrian hypothesis of Zoroaster's origin, which, based on Fargard I of the Vendidad, so long held sway, especially in Germany.
Concerning the composition of the Avesta we shall say something in another place ; for the present it is sufficient to state that the Vendidad is that portion of it which contains
GEOGRAPHY OF THE A VEST A 35
the religious laws and the mythology — a sort of Zoroastrian Pentateuch — and that it is divided into twenty-two Fargards, or chapters. Of these the first describes the creations of Ahura Mazda, and the counter-creations of Arira Mainyu, the Evil Spirit (Ahriman), and includes an enumeration of the following sixteen lands created by the former : ( I ) " The Airy ana Vaejo^ by the good river Dditya " (a mythical region, identified in Sasanian times with the region of the River Araxes, that is, with the modern Azarbayjan) ; (2) Sughda (Sogdiana, Sughdjj (3) A/0«r&(Margiana, Merv) ; (4) Bdkhdi (Bactria, Balkh); (5) Nisaya (?N«ra<'a, the capital of Parthia, the modern Nasa in Khurasan, two days' journey from Sarakhs and five from Merv) ; (6) Haroyu (Herat) ; (7) Vaekereta (identified with Kabul in the Pahlawi commentary) ; (8) Urva (identified with Tus) ; (9) Vehrkana (Hyrcania, the modern Gurgan or Jurjan) ; (10) Harahwaiti ('A/>a^wToc)> and (u) Haetument, both in the region of the Helmand river ; (12) Ragha (Ray, 'Pcr/cu, near the modern capital, Tihran) ; (13) Chakhra (PShargh or Jargh of Ibn Khur- dadhbih,1 four parasangs from Bukhara); (14) "the four- cornered Varena (PElburz region); (15) the Hapta-Henduy or Seven Rivers (the Panjab) ; (16) "the land by the floods of the Rariha, where people live without a head " (/.*., a ruler). In this list Geiger and some other scholars suppose that we have an itinerary of the migrations of the Iranians on their entry . into Persia after the fission of the original Indo- Iranian community, which was located in the region of the Pamirs, whence the first stream of migration flowed mainly westwards to Sughd, Merv, Balkh, Nasa, and Herat ; another stream south and south-west to the Panjab, Kabul, and the Helmand region ; while some adventurous spirits continued the westward migration as far as Gurgan and Ray. But it is doubtful if much stress can be laid on the order observed in this
1 Ed. de Goeje (vol. vi of Bibl. Geog. Arab.), pp. 25, 203.
36 INTRODUCTORY
enumeration, that order being in any case almost indefensible (even excluding all doubtful identifications) on geographical grounds. And it seems at least possible that it may represent the conquests of the Zoroastrian faith rather than of the Iranian people, which hypothesis would be much strengthened if the identification of the Airyana Vaejo with Atropatene (Azarbayjan) could be established more surely : we should then have a fairly clear confirmation of that theory which we regarded as most probable : to wit, a religion having its source and home in the extreme north-west, but making its first con- quests in the extreme north-east. Did we need any proof that a prophet is often without honour in his own country, the history of Islam would supply it, and Balkh may well have been the Medina of the Zoroastrian faith.
Another period, subsequent alike to the Indo-Iranian and the
primitive Iranian epochs, has been distinguished and discussed
with care and acumen by Spiegel,1 who places
Period of ....
Assyrian in- its beginning about B.C. 1000, namely, the period of Assyrian influence — an influence salient to all eyes in the sculptures and inscriptions of the Achaemenians, and discernible also, as Spiegel has shown, in many Persian myths, legends, and doctrines reflecting a Semitic rather than an Aryan tradition. It is a remarkable thing how great at all periods of history has been Semitic influence on Persia ; Arabian in the late Sasanian and Muhammadan time ; Aramaic in earlier Sasanian and later Parthian days ; Assyrian at a yet more ancient epoch. And indeed this fact can scarcely be insisted upon too strongly; for the study of Persian has suffered from nothing so much as from the purely philological view which regards mere linguistic and racial affinities as infinitely more important and significant than the much deeper and more potent influences of literary and religious contact.
1 Erdnische Alterlhumskunde, vol. i, pp. 446-485, " Beginn der eranischen Selbstandigkeit. Die altesten Beruhrungen mit den Semiten."
SEMTTIC INFLUENCES 37
Greek is far more widely studied in England than Hebrew, but for the understanding of the motives and conduct of a Scottish Covenanter or English Puritan, not to mention Milton's verse, a knowledge of the Bible is at least as necessary as a familiarity with the Classics ; and in Persia, where both literary and religious influences have generally been in large measure Semitic, the same holds good to a much greater extent. If, as an adjunct to my equipment for the study of Persian thought and literature, I were offered my choice between a thorough knowledge of the Semitic and the Aryan languages, I should, from this point of view alone, unhesitatingly choose the former. A good knowledge of the Aramaic languages is essential for the study of Pahlawi, and a fruitful investigation of the post-Muhammadan literature and thought of Persia is impossible without a wide acquaintance with Arabic books ; while in both these fields a knowledge of Sanskrit is practi- cally of very little use, and even in the interpretation of the Avesta it must be employed with some reserve and due regard to the Pahlawi tradition.
In concluding this introductory chapter it may be well to recapitulate the periods in Persian history of which
Recapitulation. J
we have spoken. I. The Indo-Iranian period. II. The early Irdnian period.
III. The period of Assyrian influence (B.C. looo).1
IV. The Medic period (B.C. 700).
V. The Old Persian (Achaemenian) period (B.C. 550). VI. Interregnum, from the Invasion of Alexander to the
Sasanian Restoration (B.C. 330 — A.D. 226). VII. The Sasanian period (A.D. 226-652). VIII. The Muhammadan period, extending from the fall of
the Sasanian Dynasty to the present day. It is with the last of these periods that we are principally
1 Or even earlier. See p. 20, supra.
38 INTRODUCTORY
concerned, and, as will in due time appear, it comprises numerous important subdivisions. Before approaching it, how- ever, something more remains to be said of the older Persian literature and its discovery, and sundry other matters germane thereto, which will be discussed in the next chapter.
CHAPTER II
THE DISCOVERY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE INSCRIPTIONS AND DOCUMENTS OF ANCIENT PERSIA, WITH OTHER PHILOLOGICAL MATTER.
THE language of Modern, that is to say of Post-Muham- madan, Persia, was naturally, for practical reasons, an object of
interest and study in Europe long before any ^development serious attempt was made to solve the enigmas studfesuTEurope presented by the three ancient languages of which
this chapter will briefly trace the discovery and decipherment : to wit, the Old Persian of the Achaemenian inscriptions, the Avestic idiom, and the Pahlawi of Sasanian times. The study of Modern Persian, again, was preceded by that of Arabic j which, as the vehicle whereby the Philosophy of the Greeks, especially of Aristotle, first became clearly known to Western Europe, commanded in a far higher degree the attention and interest of men of learning. The first translations from the Arabic into
European languages were made about the be-
Twelfth century. . .r °
ginning or the twelfth century or our era by Jews and Moors converted to Christianity,1 who were
1 A great deal of interesting information concerning the early Oriental- ists is contained in the Gallia Orientalis of Paul Colomes (Opera, Hamburg, 1709, pp. 1-272), and also in the excellent Esquisse Historique prefixed by Gustave Dugat to his useful Histoire des Orientalistcs de I'Europe du XII au XIXe siecle (Paris, 1868), to which I am largely indebted in this portion
40 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
soon followed by native Europeans, such as Gerard of Cremona (b. A.D. 1114); Albertus Magnus (b. A.D. 1193), who, dressed as an Arab, expounded at Paris the teachings of Aristotle from the works of al-Fdrabi, Ibn Sina ( Avicenna), and al-Ghazzali ; and Michael Scot, who appears to have studied
Arabic at Toledo in A.D. 1217. Roger Bacon ™ntwnth anc* Raymond Lull (thirteenth century) also
called attention to the importance, for philosophic and scientific purposes, of a study of Oriental languages. In
A.D. 1311-1312 it was ordained by Pope Clement FceStuenth the Fifth that Professorships of Hebrew, Chaldean,
and Arabic should be established at Rome, Paris, Bologna, Oxford and Salamanca, whose teaching, however, was soon afterwards (A.D. 1325) placed by the Church under a rigorous supervision, lest it should tend to endanger Christian orthodoxy. At each of these five seats of learning there were to be two professors, paid by the State or the Church, who were to make faithful Latin translations of the principal works written in these languages, and to train their pupils to speak them sufficiently well for missionary purposes.
It does not appear, however, that these laudable proposals met at first with any great measure of success, or that much
was actually done to further the study of Arabic
c«to£h unti^ the estoblishment of the College de France
in A.D. 1530 by Francis the Fifth. Armegand of
Montpellier1 had already, in A.D. 1274, translated portions of
the works of Avicenna and Averroes into Latin, but that
remarkable scholar and traveller, Guillaume Postel 2 may,
of my subject. See also M. Jourdain's Recherches critiques sur I'dge et I'origine des traductions latines d'Aristote et sur les commentaries grecs ou arabes employes par les doctcurs scholasiiques.
1 This is the first biography given in the Gallia Orientalis. " Gallorum primus," says the author, "quod sciam, qui Linguas Orientales ab anno millesimo ducentesimo excoluerit, fuit Armegandus Blasii, Doctor Medicus, regnante Philippe, Ludovici cognomine Sancti filio."
2 He died in 1581 at the age of 95 or 96. See Gallia Orientalis, PP. 59-66-
ARABIC CHAIRS FOUNDED 41
according to M. Dugat, be called " the first French Orien- talist " ; and he, apparently, was the first who caused Arabic types to be cut. In A.D. 1587 Henry the Third founded an Arabic chair at the College de France, and a few years subse- quently Savary de Breves, who is said to have had a fine taste in Oriental literature, and who later brought to Paris excellent founts of type which he had caused to be engraved in the East, was appointed French Ambassador at Constantinople. On his death these founts of type (Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Armenian, and ^Ethiopic), together with his Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Syriac MSS., were bought by Louis the Thirteenth (assisted financially by the clergy), and passed into the possession of the Imprimerie Royale.
The full development of Oriental studies in Europe, how- ever, may be said to date from the seventeenth century, since
which epoch progress has been steady and con- ^nuin?111 tinuous. This century saw, for example, in
England the establishment, by Sir Thomas Adams and Archbishop Laud respectively, of Arabic chairs at both Cambridge (A.D. 1632) and Oxford (A.D. 1636), of which the latter was filled by the illustrious Pococke and the former by the equally illustrious Abraham Wheelock, who, with the teaching of Arabic and Anglo-Saxon, combined the function of
University Librarian. Amongst his pupils was
that distinguished scholar, Thomas Hyde, after- wards Professor of both the Hebrew and the Arabic lan- guages at Oxford, whose work on the History of the Religion of the jfncient Persians, Parthians, and Medes^ published in 1700, little more than a year before his death,1 may be taken as representing the high-water-mark of knowledge on this subject at the close of the seventeenth century, and, indeed,
1 He died on February 18, 1702, having resigned the Librarianship of the Bodleian in April, 1701. The second edition of his Veterum Persarum . . . Religionis Historia, published in 1760, is that to which reference is here made.
42 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
until the publication of Anquetil du Perron's epoch-making memoirs (1763-1771), of which we shall shortly have to speak. A brief statement, therefore, of Hyde's views may appropriately form the starting-point of this survey ; for his industry, his scholarship, and his linguistic attainments, added to the facilities which he enjoyed as Librarian of the Bodleian, rendered his work as complete and comprehensive an account of the ancient Persian religion as was possible with the materials then available. Hyde not only used the works of his predecessors, such as Barnaby de Brisson's De Regio Persarum 'Principatu Libri Tres (Paris, 1606) — a book based entirely on the statements of Greek and Latin authors, — Henry Lord's Religion of the Par sees z (1630), Sanson's T)e hodierno statu Persia (1683), and the narratives of the travellers Pedro Texeira (1604), Pere Gabriel de Chinon (1608-1650), Tavernier (1629-1675), Olearius (1637-1638), Thevenot (1664-1667), Chardin (1665-1677), Petits de la Croix (1674-1676), and Samuel Flower (1667), but also a number of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Syriac manuscripts, which he manipulated with a skill deserving of the highest praise ; and the knowledge thus acquired was supplemented in some cases by information verbally obtained by his friends in India from the Parsees. His work, in short, is a monument of erudition, most remark- able wher* we consider the time at which it was written and the few facilities then existing for research of this kind ; and in some cases his acumen anticipated discoveries not confirmed 'till a much later date. Thus he recognised the name of Media in
1 The full title of this tract (for it comprises but 53 pages) is The Religion of tlie Persees, as it was Compiled from a Booke of theirs, con- tayning the Forme of their Worshippe, written in the Persian Character, and by them called their Zundavastaw, wherein is shewed the Superstitious Ceremonies used amongst them, more especially their Idolatrous Worshippe of Fire. The author's information was derived from a Parsi of Surat " whose long employment, in the Companies service, had brought him to a mediocrity in the English tongue." The book contains but meagre inform- ation concerning the Zoroastrian tenets, and indicates not even an indirect knowledge of the contents of the Avesta.
THOMAS HYDE 43
the Arabic Mah prefixed to certain place-names (p. 424), was aware ot the existence amongst the Zoroastrians of Persia of a peculiar "gabri" dialect (pp. 364, 429), knew the Huriifi sect as a revived form of Manichaeanism (p. 283), made free use of the rare Arabic translation of the Shdh-nama of al-Bundan, and was acquainted with the so-called Zend character,1 and with such later Parsi writings as the Zaratusht-nama, the Sad-dar (of which he gives a complete Latin translation), and the Persian translation of the Book of Arda Viraf.
On the other hand he had no knowledge whatever of the
Avestic or Pahlawi languages, entirely misunderstood the
meaning of the term Zend Avesta or Avesta va
knyodwi£dgen°f Zwdt an£l endeavoured to prove that the Old athn£nMdLnte Persian inscriptions were not writing at all, but
lan!e«[a?of mere architectural ornamentation. Anquetil du Perron at the end of his Discours Prtliminaire (pp. cccclxxxix-ccccxcviii) is at some pains to prove the first of these statements, and points out that throughout Hyde's work the Zend character merely serves to cloak Persian sentences cited from late Parsi writings. But in fact proof is unnecessary, for Hyde had in his own possession a MS. of part of the Avesta, and was also acquainted with the MS. of the Tasna presented to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, by an English merchant named Moody about the middle of the seventeenth century ; a and is quite certain that he would
x It would appear from a remark of Sir W. Jones in the Lettre a. Monsieur A . . . du P . . . hereafter cited (p. 602), that Dr. Hyde caused the " Zend " characters employed in his book to be cast for his own use. The fount is an excellent one — much more artistic than that used in the latest edition of the Avesta (Geldner's).
2 See Hyde, op. laud., p. 344 ad calc. The Emmanuel MS. now bears the class-mark 3. 2. 6., and contains the following inscription in English : "This Booke is called Ejessney, written in the language Jenwista, and containes ye Religion of ye Antient Parsyes." A note in German on a loose sheet of paper describes it as a copy of the Yasna, not quite complete, ending ch. 1. 2 (Westergaard), and lacking the last quarter ; not dated ; probably middle of the seventeenth century. Though not old, it is accu-
44 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
have made use of documents so important for his purpose had he been able to read them. Now since he was conversant with the character in which they were written, and even, as we have seen, employed it in his work, it is evident that he could make nothing whatever of the language. As regards the title of the sacred book of the Zoroastrians, he regarded it as "exotic and hybrid," supposing that it consisted of the Arabic word Zend (an implement for kindling fire), and the Hebrew- Chaldaean eshta^^fire" (op. laud.,^. 335 et seqq.}. Lastly, he regarded the Old Persian inscriptions as trifles, hardly worthy of attention but for the curiosity already aroused by them (p. 546), and declared in the most positive fashion that they were not Old Persian (p. 547), and, indeed, not inscriptions at all, but mere fanciful designs of the original architect (pp. 556-557). In the adjacent Pahlawi inscriptions of Naqsh-i- Rajab he equally refuses to recognise any form of Persian script. "As regards Nos. i and 4" (the Sdsdnian Pahlawi), he says, " I assert that these characters cannot be ancient Persian, which are perceived, in their ancient books, which I myself possess, to differ from them toto cce/o" (p. 548.)
Such, then, was the state of knowledge in 1754. No
further advance had been made towards the understanding
of the Avesta, though several new MSS. had
Anquetil du
Perron (1754- been brought to England : to wit, a MS. of the Vendidad obtained from the Parsis of India by George Bourchier (or Bowcher) in 1718, conveyed to England by Richard Cobbe in 1723, and presented to the Bodleian, where it is now preserved (BoDL. OR. 321) ; and two MSS. of the Yasna bought at Surat by Frazer, who also endeavoured, but vainly, to induce the Zoroastrian priests to teach him the Avestic and Pahlawi languages. But in the
rately written from a good MS. It agrees with the best MSS., but not entirely with any ; most closely with K. II. The orthography is very consistent, and it is important for critical purposes, being an independent codex.
ANQUETIL DU PERRON 45
year above mentioned a facsimile of four leaves of the Bodleian MS. of the Vendidad fell into the hands of a young Frenchman, Anquetil du Perron, then not much more than twenty years of age ; and he, with an impulsiveness and devotion to science truly Gallic, at once resolved to win for his country the glory of wresting from the suspicious priesthood who guarded them the keys to these hidden secrets of an old-world faith, and of laying before the learned world a complete account of the Zoroastrian doctrines, based, not on the statements of non- Zoroastrian or even modern Parsi writers, but on the actual testimony of the ancient Scriptures themselves. So eager was his haste that, though assured of help and pecuniary assistance in his projected journey to India, his impatience to begin his work impelled him to enlist as a common soldier of the French East India Company ; so firm was his purpose and so steadfast his resolve that, in face of every kind of difficulty and dis- couragement, suffering, sickness, opposition, perils by sea and perils of war, he persevered for seven years and a half, until, on March 15, 1762, having at length regained Paris after his long and adventurous exile, he deposited his precious manu- scripts, the fruits of his incredible labours, in the Bibliotheque du Roi. Yet still nine years' laborious, but now tranquil, work lay before him ere, in 1771, he was able to offer to the world the assured and final outcome of his endeavour — a great work in three volumes bearing the following cumbrous title : Zend-Avesta, otevrage de Zoroastre, cantenant les idees theologiques^ physiques^ et morales de ce legislateur^ les ceremonies du culte religieux quil a etabli^ et plusieurs traits importans relatifs a t'ancienne histoire des Terses^ traduit en Fran$ais sur ^original Zend avec des Remarques : et accompagnl de plusieurs traites propres a eclaircir les matieres qui en sont robjet. This work was in the fullest sense of the word epoch-making, or, as the Germans say, " bahn-brechend." Anquetil completely accom- plished the great task he had set himself. Much remained to be done in detail by his successors, many inaccuracies are
46 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
naturally to be found in his work ; * yet we may fairly say that to him in chief belongs the merit of those discoveries as to the religion and language of the ancient Zoroastrians from which so many important results, literary, philological, ethno- logical, and philosophical, have since been drawn.
Of the details of Anquetil's journey this is hardly the place to speak. They are narrated with great minuteness in the
first volume of his work (pp. i-cccclxxviii), and Anvqenetures?d~ incite, in truth, a mass of purely personal details
which might, perhaps, as well have been omitted, and which certainly rendered the book an easier target for the derision to which it was destined shortly to be exposed. Briefly, Anquetil quitted Paris with his " petit equipage " (containing, except for a few books, only two shirts, two handkerchiefs and a pair of socks), without the knowledge or any one except his brother, who was bound to secrecy, on November 7, 1754, and marched with his company — men little to his taste, whom he speaks of as "ces brutaux" — to L'Orient, which he reached on the i6th. Here he was informed that the King had been graciously pleased to grant him an allowance of five hundred livres, and he was further accorded a first-class passage to India. Sailing from L'Orient on February 7, 1755, he reached Pondichery on August gth ot the same year, and there was hospitably received by M. Goupil, the Commandant of the troops. He at once set himself to learn Persian, which afterwards served as the means of communication between himself and the Zoroastrian priests. More than three years elapsed, however, ere he reached Surat (May i, 1758), shortly before it passed into the hands of the English (March, 1759). This long delay in the prosecution of his plan was caused, apparently, partly by his insatiable curiosity as to the antiquities, religions, customs, and languages of India (for his original scheme extended far beyond what
1 For an example, see Haug'a Essays on the Parses, edited by West
(ihird edition, London, 1884), p. 24.
ANQUETIL DU PERRON 47
immediately concerned the Zoroastrian religion), partly by the political complications of that time. After numerous adven- tures, however, he ultimately arrived at Surat on the date indicated above. He at once put himself in relation with two Parsi dasturs, or priests, named Darab and Ka'us, from whom, three months later, he received, after many vexatious delays and attempts at extortion and evasion, a professedly complete copy of the Vendidad. Fully aware of the necessity for caution, he succeeded in borrowing from another dastur^ Manuchihrji (who, owing to religious differences, was not on terms of intercourse with Darab and Ka'us) another good and ancient manuscript of the same work ; and, on collating this with the other, he was not long in discovering that his two dasturs had deliberately supplied him with a defective copy. They, on being convicted of this fraud, became at once more communicative, and less disposed to attempt any further imposition, and furnished him with other works, such as the Persian Story of Sanjan (of which Anquetil gives an abstract at pp. cccxviii-cccxxiv of his work), an account of the descent of all copies of the Vendidad and its Pahlawi commentary preserved in India from a Persian original brought thither from Sistan by a dastur named Ardashir about the fourteenth century of our era, and a further account of the relations maintained from time to time by the Zoroastrians of Persia with those of India.
On March 24, 1759, Anquetil completed his translation of
the Pahlawi-Persian vocabulary, and six days later began the
translation of the Vendidad, which, together with
Anquetil's work. , 11 • c ^u Ayrcc1 u c • L j
the collation of the two Mbo., he finished on June 1 6th of the same year. A severe illness, followed by a savage attack by a compatriot, interrupted his work for five months, and it was not till November 2Oth that he was able to continue his labours with the help of the dastur Darab. During this time he received much help and friendly protection from the English, notably from Mr. Spencer, of
48 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
whom he speaks in the highest terms (p. cccxlvi), and Mr Erskine. Having completed the translation of the Yasna, Vhpered^ and Vendidad, the Pahlawi Bundahish, the Si-ruza, Rivdyats, &c., and visited the sacred fire in its temple, and the dakhmas^ or " towers of silence," Anquetil, again attacked by illness, and fearful of risking the loss of the precious harvest of his labours, resolved to renounce his further projects of travel, which included a journey to China. Again assisted by the English, to whom, notwithstanding the state of war which existed between his country and theirs, he did not fear to appeal, knowing them, as he says, "genereux quand on les prend par un certain cote" (p. ccccxxxi), he sailed from Surat to Bombay, where, after, a sojourn of more than a month, he shipped himself and his precious manuscripts (180 in number, enumerated in detail at pp. dxxix-dxli of the first volume or his work) on board the Bristol on. April 28, 1761, and arrived at Portsmouth on November iyth of the same year. There he was compelled, greatly to his displeasure, to leave his manuscripts in the custom-house, while he himself was sent with other French prisoners to Wickham. As, however, he was not a prisoner of war (being, indeed, under English protection), permission was soon accorded him to return to France ; but, eagerly as he desired to see his native country after so long an absence, and, above all, to secure the safety of those precious and hardly-won documents which still chiefly occupied his thoughts, he would not quit this country without a brief visit to Oxford, and a hasty inspection of the Avestic manuscripts there preserved. "Je d^clarai net," he says (p. ccccliv), " que je ne quitterais pas 1'Angleterre sans avoir vu Oxford, puis qu'on m'y avait retenu prisonnier centre le droit des gens. Le d£sir de comparer mes manuscrits avec ceux de cette c£lebre Universite n'avait pas peu ajoute aux raisons qui m'avaient comme forc£ de prendre, pour revenir en Europe, la voie Anglaise." Well furnished with letters or introduction, he arrived at Oxford on January 17, 1762,
S7R WILLIAM JONES 49
whence, after a stay of two days, he returned, by way of Wickham, Portsmouth, and London, to Gravesend, where he embarked for Ostend on February I4th. He finally reached Paris on March 14, 1762, and on the following day at length deposited his manuscripts at the Bibliotheque du Roi.
The appearance of Anquetil's work in 1771 was far from
at once convincing the whole learned world of the great
services which he had rendered to science. In
Reception of , /- > • i i /- 1-1
Anquetudu place of the wisdom expected from a sage like
Perron's work. _ ..... ,
Zoroaster, who, even in classical times, enjoyed so great a reputation for profound philosophic thought, the curious and the learned were confronted with what appeared to them to be a farrago of puerile fables, tedious formulae, wearisome repetitions, and grotesque prescriptions. The
general disappointment (which, indeed, Anquetil ^jS*11 had himself foreseen and foretold, pp. i-ii),
found its most ferocious expression in the famous letter of Sir William Jones, at that time a young graduate of Oxford.1 This letter, written in French on the model of Voltaire, will be found at the end of the fourth volume (pp. 583-613) of his works (London, 1799). It was penned in 1771, the year in which Anquetil's work appeared, and is equally remarkable for the vigour and grace of its style, and the deplorable violence and injustice of its contents. The writer's fastidious taste was offended by Anquetil's prolixity and lack of style ; while his anger was kindled by the some- what egotistic strain which, it must be admitted, runs through the narrative portion of his work, and by certain of his reflec- tions on the English in general and the learned doctors of Oxford in particular ; and he suffered himself to be so blinded by these sentiments that he not only overwhelmed Anquetil with satire and invective which nre not always in the best
1 He was at this time about twenty-five years of age, a Fellow of University College, and a B.A. of three years' standing. He died in 1794, at the age of forty-eight.
5
$d HISTORY OF PERStAtt PtitLOLOGY
taste, but absolutely refused to recognise the immense import- ance, ana even the reality, of discoveries which might have condoned far more serious shortcomings. As Darmesteter happily puts it, " the Zend-Avesta suffered for the fault of its introducer, Zoroaster for Anquetil."
As a matter of fact Anquetil's remarks about the English are (when we remember the circumstances under which he wrote, in time of war, when he had seen his VilAnqauetii. °f nation worsted by ours, and had himself been held captive, not being a prisoner of war, within our borders) extremely fair and moderate, nay, most gratifying, on the whole, to our amour propre, as may be seen in his glow- ing eulogy of Mr. Spencer (p. cccxlvi), his remarks on the generosity of the English towards the unfortunate of even a hostile nation (p. ccccxxxi), his recognition of their hospi- tality and delicacy of feeling (pp. ccccxxxvii-xxxix), and the like ; while his railleries at one or two of the Oxford doctors — at the " m£chant bonnet gras a trois cornes " of Dr. Swinton, the ill-judged pleasantry of Dr. Hunt, the haughty, and magis- terial bearing of Dr. Barton — are in reality very harmless, and quite devoid of malice. In short, there is nothing in Anque- til's book to justify Sir William Jones's bitter irony and ferocious invective, much less his attempt to deny the great services rendered to science by the object of his attack, and to extinguish the new-born light destined to illuminate in so unexpected a manner so many problems of history, philology, and comparative theology. Here are a few specimens sufficient to illustrate the general tone of his letter : —
" Ne soyez point surpris, Monsieur, de recevoir cette lettre d'un inconnu, qui aime les vrais talens, et qui sait apprecier
S^TTones's ** VOtTCS.
letter " Souffrez qu'on vous felicite de vos heureuses
to Anquetil. , \
decouvertes. Vous avez souvent prodigue votre pre- cieuse vie ; vous avez franchi des mcrs orageuses, des montagnes remplies de tigres ; vous avez fletri votre teint, que vous nous dites, avec autant d'elegance que de modestie, avoir ete compose
SJR W. JONES AND ANQUETIL 51
de Us el de roses ; vous avez essuye des maux encore plus cruels ; et tout cela uniquement pour le bien de la litterature, et de ceux qui ont le rare bonheur de vous ressembler.
" Vous avez appris deux langues anciennes, que 1' Europe entiere ignorait ; vous avez rapporte en France le fruit de vos travaux, les livres du celebre Zoroastre ; vous avez charme le public par votre agreable traduction de cet ouvrage ; et vous avez atteint le comble de votre ambition, on plutot 1'objet de vos ardens desirs ; vous etes Membre de 1' Academic des Inscriptions.
" Nous respectons, comme nous le devons, cette illustre et savante Academic ; mais vous meritez, ce nous semble, un titre plus dis- tingue. . . . Plus grand voyageur que Cadmus, vous avez rapporte, comme lui, de nouveaux caracteres, et de nouveaux dieux. ... A parler franchement, ou doit vous faire pour le moins 1'Archimage, ou grand pretre des Guebres, d'autant plus que, dans ce nouveau poste, vous auriez 1'occasion de mettre un peu plus de feu dans vos ecrits. »
" Voyageur, Savant, Antiquaire, Heros, Libellisle, quels titres ne meritez-vous pas ? . . .
" Permettez maintenant, Monsieur, qu'on vous disc serieusement ce que des gens de lettres pensent de votre entreprise, de vos voyages, de vos trois gros volumes, et de votre savoir que vous vantez avec si peu de reserve. ... On doit aimer le vrai savoir : mais toutes choses ne valent pas la peine d'etre sues.
"Socrate disait, en voyant 1'etalage d'un bijoutier, ' De combien de choses je n'ai pas besoin ! ' On peut de meme s'ecrier, en con- templant les ouvrages de nos erudits, Combien de connaissances il m'importe peu d'acquerir !
" Si vous aviez fait cette derniere reflexion, vous n'auriez pas affronte la mort pour nous procurer des lumieres inutiles. . . .
"Si ces raisonnemens, Monsieur, ne portent pas absolument a faux, il en resulte que votre objet etait ni beau ni important ; que 1' Europe eclairee n'avait nul besoin de votre Zende Vasta ; que vous 1'avez traduit a pure perte ; et que vous avez prodigue inutilement pendant dix-huit ans un temps qui devait vous etre precieux. . . . Quelle petite gloire que de savoir ce que personne ne sait, et n'a que faire de savoir ! . . . On veut meme croire que vous avez dans la tete plus de mots Zendes, c'est-a-dire, plus de mots durs, trainans, barbares, que tous les savans de i' Europe. Ne savez-vous pas que les langues n'ont ancune valeur intrinseque ? . . . D'ailleurs, etes- vous bien sur que vous possedez les anciennes langues de la Perse ? . . . On ne saura jamais, ne vous en deplaise, les anciens dialectes de la Perse, tandis qu'ils n'existent que dans les pre-
52 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
tendus livres de Zoroastre, qui d'ailleurs sont remplis de repetitions inutiles.
" 'Mais,' direz vous, ' me soupconne-t-on d'avoir voulu tromper le public ?' Non, Monsieur, on ne dit pas cela. Vous vous etes trompe vous-meme. . . .
"Jusqu'ici, Monsieur, nous n'avons d'autre plainte envers vous, que celle de nous avoir endormis ; ce qui n'est pas certainement un crime en soi-meme : quant a ceux qui craignent ces vapeurs sopori- fiques, il est facile ou de ne pas lire un livre qui les donne, ou de 1'oublier ; le remede est aussi naturel que la precaution est bonne.
" On ne dira rien de votre style dur, bas, inelegant, souvent ampoule, rarement conforme au sujet, et jamais agreable. . . . Nous aurons plus a dire sur la fin de votre discours. . . . Quelle punition votre Zoroastre ordonne-t-il pour les ingrats ? Combien d urine de bceuf sont ils obliges d'avaler ? On vous conseille, Monsieur, de prendre une dose de cette sainte et purifiante liqueur. . . .
" Nous avons, Monsieur, 1'honneur de connaitre le Docteur Hunt, et nous faisons gloire de le respecter. II est incapable de tromper qui que ce soit. // ne nous a jamais dit, il n'a pu vous dire, qu'il entendait les langues anciennes de la Perse. II est persuade, aussi bien que nous, que person ne ne les sait, et ne les saura jamais, a inoins qu'on ne recouvre toutes les histoires, les poe'mes, et les ouvrages de religion, que le Calif e Omar et ses generaux chercherent a detruire avec tant d'acharnement ; ce qui rend inutile la peine de courir le monde aux depens de 1'eclat d'un visage fteuri. II ne regrette pas a la verite son ignorance de ces langues ; il en est assez dedommage par sa rare connaissance du Persan moderne, la langue des Sadi, des Cashefi, des Nezamis, dans les livres desquels on ne trouve ni le Barsom, ni le Lingam, ni des observances ridicules, ni des idees fantastiques, mais beaucoup de reflexions piquantes contre 1'ingratitude et la faussete. . . .
"Vous triomphez, Monsieur, de ce que le Docteur Hyde ne savait pas les langues anciennes de la Perse ; et vous ne dites rien de nouveau. . . . Vous reprenez le Docteur Hyde de ce qu'il ignorait que les cinq gahs signifiassent les cinq parties du jour ; de ce qu'il dit tou au lien de ton : et de ce qu'il ne savait pas qu' Aherman, le nom de votre diable Persan, etait un abreviation du mot melodieux Enghri meniosch ; car vous savez qu'en changeant Enghri en Alter et meniosch en man on fait Aherman. De la meme maniere on peut faire le mot diable en changeant Enghri en di, et mcnoisch en able"
S/R W. JONES AND ANQUETIL 53
Sir William Jones then proceeds to make merry at the expense of Anquetil's translation — no difficult feat even with a better rendering of a work containing so much that is to us grotesque and puerile, as must, in some degree, be the case with what is produced by any people in its infancy — and thus sums up his reasonings : —
" Ou Zoroastre n'avait pas le sens commun, ou il n'ecrivit pas le livre que vous lui attribuez ; s'il n'avait pas le sens commun, il fallait le laisser dans la foule, et dans 1'obscurite ; s'il n'ecrivit pas ce livre, il etait impudent de le publier sous son nom. Ainsi, ou vous avez insulte le gout du public en lui presentant des sottises, ou vous 1'avez trompe en lui debitant des faussetes : et de chaque cote vous meritez son mepris."
Sir William Jones's letter, though it served to mar Anquetii du Perron's legitimate triumph, and (which was more serious)
to blind a certain number of scholars and men of ave^d. letter^ to the real importance of his discoveries,
has now only a historic interest. Time, which has so fully vindicated the latter that no competent judge now fails to recognise the merit of his work, also took its revenge on the former ; and he who strained at the gnat of the Zend dvesta was destined to swallow the camel of the Desatir — one of the most impudent forgeries ever perpetrated. With the original of this egregious work he was, indeed, unacquainted, for the only known manuscript of it, though brought from Persia to India by Mulla Ka'us about the year 1773, was only published by the son of the purchaser, Mulla Firuz, in 1818 ;x his knowledge of
' Its full title is : The Desath ot Sacred Writings oj the Ancient Persian Prophets; in the Original Tongue; together with the Ancient Persian Version and Commentary of the Fifth Sasan ; carefully published by Mulla Firuz bin Kaus, who has subjoined a copious Glossary of the Obsolete and Technical Persian Terms : to which is added an English Translation of the Desatit and Commentary. In two volumes. (Bombay, 1818.) Particulars concerning the unique manuscript will be found at p. vii of the Preface to the second volume. The Desdtir was examined, and the futility of its pre- tensions exposed, by de Sacy in the Journal des Savants (pp. 16-31 and
54 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
its contents was derived from a curious but quite modern Persian book (to which, however, it was his incontestable merit first to direct attention in Europe) entitled the Dabistdn- i-Madhahib or " School of Sects," a treatise composed in India about the middle of the seventeenth century of our era.1 Of this work Sir William Jones spoke in 17892 in the following terms of exaggerated eulogy : —
" A fortunate discovery, for which I was first indebted to Mir Sir w Jones's Muhammed Husain, one of the most intelligent Musel- treduiity equals mans in India, has at once dissipated the cloud, and
his scepticism, . /-I-L.L L\. • it_-i /• T '
and is as cast a gleam of light on the primeval history of Iran misplaced. ancj Qf j.ne human race, of which I had long despaired, and which could hardly have dawned from any other quarter.
"This rare and interesting tract on twelve different religions, entitled the Dabistdn, and composed by a Mohammedan traveller, a native of Cashmir, named Mohsan, but distinguished *ne assumed surname of Fani, or Perishable, begins
of the value of with a wonderf ully curious chanter on the religion of
the Desatir and TT , , ,. , .. „ ,, , ,
Dabistan. Hushang, which was long anterior to that of Zeratusht, but had continued to be secretly professed by many learned Persians even to the author's time ; and several of the most eminent of them, dissenting in many points from the Gabrs, and persecuted by the ruling powers of their country, had retired to India ; where they compiled a number of books, now extremely scarce, which Mohsan had perused, and with the writers of which, or
67-79) for January-February, 1821. See also Nos. 6, 12, 13, 18, and 20 of the Heidclberger Jahrbucher det Littcratur for 1823 (vol. i), by H. E. G. Paulus ; and Erskine in vol. ii. of the Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society. The most probable theory of its origin is that suggested by Stanislas Guyard on pp. 61-62 of the separate reprint of his admirable article Un Grand Maitrc des Assassins au temps de Saladin, published in the Journal Asiatique for 1877, viz., that it was the work, and contains the doctrines, of the Isma'ilis.
1 See pp. 141-142 of Rieu's Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum. There are several Oriental editions of the text, and an English translation by Shea and Troyer, printed at Paris in 1843 for the Oriental Translation Fund.
, 2 In his Sixth Anniversary Discourse on the Persians, delivered at a meeting of the Asiatic Society, in Calcutta, on February 19, 1789 (Works, vol. i, pp. 73-94)-
WILLIAM JONES 55
with many of them, he had contracted an intimate friendship : from them he learned that a powerful monarchy had been established for ages in Iran before the accession of Cayumers, that it was called the Mahabadian, for a reason which will soon be mentioned, and that many princes, of whom seven or eight only are named in the Dabistdn, and among them Mahbul or Maha Beli, had raised their empire to the zenith of human glory. If we can rely on this evidence, which to me appears unexceptionable, the Iranian monarchy must have been the oldest in the world ; but it will remain dubious to ^which of the stocks, Hindu, Arabian, or Tartar, the first Kinqs of Iran belonged, or whether they sprang from a fourth race, distinct from any of the others ; and these are questions which we shall be able, I imagine, to answer precisely when we have carefully inquired into the languages and letters, religion and philosophy, and incidentally into the arts and sciences, of the ancient Persians.
" In the new and important remarks, which I am going to offer,
on the ancient languages and characters of Iran, I am sensible, that
you must give me credit for many assertions, which on
SnrotJonJs°anb£ut this occasion it is impossible to prove ; for I should ill
the history of deserve your indulgent attention, if I were to abuse it
Ancient Persia. * •,,-.,-,
by repeating a dry list of detached words, and present- ing you with a vocabulary instead of a dissertation ; but, since I have no system to maintain, and have not suffered imagination to delude my judgment, isince I have habituated myself to form opinions of men and things from evidence, which is the only solid basis of civil, as experiment is of natural, knowledge ; and since I have maturely considered the questions which I mean to discuss ; you will not, I am persuaded, suspect my testimony, or think I go too far, when I assure you, that I will assert nothing positively, which I am not able satisfactorily to demonstrate."
It will be seen from the above citation that Sir William
Jones was just as positive in his affirmations as in his negations,
and too often equally unfortunate in both. He
SirwunJer"e88 confidently, and " without fear of contradiction,"
identified Cyrus with the entirely legendary
Kay-Khusraw of the Persian Epic (the Kawa Husrawa or
Husrawarih of the A vesta), and the legendary Pishdadi kings
with the Assyrians ; derived the name of Cambyses (the
Kambujiya of the Old Persian inscriptions) from the Modern
Persian Kam-bakhh^ " granting desires," which he regarded as
56 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
"a title rather than a name," and Xerxes (the Khshaydnha of the inscriptions) from Shiru'i (and this after his scornful rejection of Anquetil's correct derivation of Ahriman from Ahra Mainyush /) ; continued to see "strong reasons to doubt the existence of genuine books in Zend or Pahlawi," on the ground that " the well-informed author of the Dabistdn affirms the work of Zeratusht to have been lost, and its place supplied by a recent compilation ; " held " that the oldest discoverable languages of Persia were Chaldaick and Sanscrit, and that, when they had ceased to be vernacular, the Pahlawi and Zend were deduced from them respectively, and the Pdrsi either from the Zendy or immediately from the dialect of the Brahmans ; " believed (with the Persians) that Jamshid (the Yima of the Avesta and Yama of the Hindu mythology, a shadowy personality belonging to the common Indo-Iranian legend) built Persepolis, and that the Achasmenian inscriptions there visible " if really alphabetical, were probably secret and sacerdotal, or a mere cypher, perhaps, of which the priests only had the key " ; and finally accepted the absurd Desdtir — " a sacred book in a heavenly language" (which proves, in fact, to be no language at all, but mere gibberish, slavishly modelled on the ordinary Persian in which the " Commentary " is written) — as an ancient historical document of capital importance, destined to throw an entirely new light on the earliest history of the Aryan people, and to prove " that the religion of the Brahmans . . . prevailed in Persia before the accession ot Cayumers, whom the Parsis, from respect to his memory, consider as the first of men, although they believe in an universal deluge before his reign." Truly Anquetil was abundantly avenged, and the proposition that misplaced scepticism often coexists with misplaced credulity received a striking illustration !
But Sir William Jones, however greatly he may have fallen into error in matters connected with the ancient history and languages of Persia, was so eminent in his public career, so
VINDICATION OF ANQUETIL 57
catholic in his interests, so able a man of letters, and so elegant
a scholar, that his opinion was bound to carry great weight,
especially in his own country : and consequently
Influence of } . . . } ' . '
sir w. joness we find his scepticism as to the genuineness or the Avesta echoed in England by Sir John Chardin and Richardson (the celebrated Persian Lexicographer) and in Germany by Meiners and, at first, Tychsen, who, however, afterwards became one of Anquetil's strongest supporters, an attitude assumed from the first by another German scholar, Kleuker, who translated Anquetil's work into his own language, and added to it several appendices. In England, for the moment, Sir William Jones's opinion carried everything before it, and Anquetil's translation " was laid aside as spurious and not deserving any attention ; " 1 while in France, on the other hand, it from the first commanded that general recogni- tion and assent which are now universally accorded to it. To trace in detail the steps whereby this recognition was secured is not within the scope of this book, and we can only notice a few of the most important. Such as desire to follow them in detail will find all the information they require in the excellent accounts of Haug and Darmesteter referred to in the footnote on this page, as well as in Geldner's article, Awestalhteratur, in vol. ii (pp. 1—53, especially p. 40, Geschichte der Awestaforschung] of Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss der Irani schen Philologie (Strassburg, 1896).
The first important step in the vindication of Anquetil
was made by his illustrious compatriot, Sylvestre de Sacy,
who, in 1793, published in the Journal des Savants
Memoiressut his five celebrated Mtmoires sur diver ses Antlquith
tiquitesdeia de la Perse, which dealt chiefly with the Pahlawi
Perse (1793)- . .. r v o - ' • i • r i_ j • i
inscriptions of the Sasaman kings, for the decipher-
1 See West's third edition of Haug's Essays on the Pdrsis, pp. 16-53, and Darmesteter's Introduction to his translation of the Avesta in Max Mullen's Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1880), vol. iv, pp. xiii-xxv, to both of which I have been greatly indebted in this portion of my subject
58 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
ment of which he chiefly relied, apart from the Greek translations which accompany some of them, on the Pahlawf vocabulary given by Anquetil (vol. iii, pp. 432-526), "whose work," as Darmesteter well says, " vindicated itself thus — better than by heaping up arguments — by promoting dis- coveries." For the oldest extant manuscripts of the Avesta date only from the fourteenth century of our era, while the Sasanian inscriptions go back to the third, and could not, therefore, be set aside, even for a moment, as late forgeries ; and if Anquetil's vocabulary furnished a key to these, it was manifest that the Pahlawi which he had learned from his dastiirs was the genuine language of Sasanian times ; and that the occurrence in it of Semitic words, such as malka " king," shanat " year," ab " father," shamsd " sun," Id " not," which Sir William Jones, regarding them as Arabic1 (though he afterwards recognised them as Chaldaean),2 cited as proof of the fictitious antiquity of the language in which they occurred, of Anquetil's credulity, and of his Pdrsi instructor's fraud, was an indisputable fact, whatever might be its true explanation. Tychsen insisted strongly on this point.
" This," said he, " is a proof that the Pahlawi was used during the reign of the Sasanides, for it was from them that these inscriptions emanated, as it was by them — nay, by the first of them, Ardashir Babagan — that the doctrine of Zoroaster was revived. One can now understand why the Zend books were translated into Pahlawi. Here, too, everything agrees, and speaks loudly for their antiquity and genuineness."3
The Pahlawi inscriptions thus deciphered by de Sacy had been
1 Lettre a Monsieur A . . . du P . . ., p. 610 : " Lorsque nous voyons les mots Arabes corrumpus . . . donnes pour des mots Zendes et Pehlevis, nous disons hardiment que ce charlatan [le reverend Docteur Darab] vous a trompe, et que vous avez tache de trompervos lecteurs."
2 Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. i, p. 8l.
3 Cited by Darmesteter in his Introduction (pp. xix-xx) to the Trans- lation of the Vendidad (see n, I on the previous page).
DECIPHERMENT OF INSCRIPTIONS 59
known in Europe since Samuel Flower published in the
Philosophical Transactions for June, 1693 (pp. 775-7) the
copies of them which he had made in 1667,
Pahiawi inscrip- while further copies appeared in the works of
Chardin (1711), Niebuhr (1778), and, at a later
date, of other travellers ; T but, though Hyde reproduced them
in his book, de Sacy was the first to attempt with any success
their interpretation.
Five years after the publication of de Sacy's Memoir es (1798),
the Carmelite father, Paul de St. Barthelemy, published at
Rome his essay, De antiquitate et affinitate lingua
samscredamicee et germanic<sy in which he defended
the antiquity of the Avesta, and even uttered a conjecture
as to the affinity of the language in which it is written
with Sanskrit.2
The first important step in the next, and perhaps the greatest, achievement of Persian scholarship — to wit, the decipherment of the Persian cuneiform inscriptions (writings of which the character and language were alike unknown) — was made early in the nineteenth century by Grotefend, whose papers on this subject — models of clear reasoning and acute insight — have only recently been unearthed from the Archives of the Gottingen Royal Society of Sciences and published in the Nachrichten of that Society (September 13, 1893, pp. 571-616) by W. Meyer. Of these papers the first was originally read on September 4, 1802, the second on October and, the
1 See West's account of the Sasanian Inscriptions in his article on Pahiawi Literature in Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss d. Iranischcn Philologie, vol. ii, pp. 76-79 ; and also Haug's Essay on Pahiawi (Bombay and London, 1870), which begins with a very full account of the progress of Pahiawi studies in Europe.
2 Darmesteter (op. cit.), p. xxi. The same conception, now universally accepted (viz., that the Avestic language and Sanskrit were sister-tongues), was very clearly formulated by de Sacy in the Journal des Savants for March, 1821, p. 136.
60 HISTORY Of PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
third on November I3th of the same year, and the fourth on May 20, 1803. Till this time, though Tychsen and Miinter had made vain attempts at decipherment, it was, as we have seen when examining Hyde's work, very generally held, even by men of learning, that these characters were not writing at all, but were either architectural ornaments, the work of worms or insects, or mason's marks and numerical signs. Grotefend, primarily impelled to this inquiry by a dispute with his friend Fiorillo as to the possibility of arriving at the meaning of inscriptions whereof the script and language were alike unknown or buried in oblivion, arrived in his first communication at the following important general conclusions :
(i) That the figures constituting these inscriptions general con- were graphic symbols ; (2) that the inscriptions
were trilingual, that is, that they consisted, as a rule, of three versions, each in a different language and script ; (3) that the inscriptions which he proposed to explain, that is, those of the first class (the Old Persian) in particular, and also those of the second, consisted of actual letters^ not of ideograms or logograms comparable to those employed in Assyrian and Chinese ; (4) that all known cuneiform inscriptions were constant in direction, being in every case written horizontally from left to right.
From these general conclusions (all of which have since proved to be perfectly correct) Grotefend proceeded to
examine more minutely two inscriptions of the method of first class, which he believed to be written in the
procedure.
so-called Zend (i.e., Avestic) language — a con- jecture which, though not the truth, was near the truth — and which he correctly referred to " some ancient king of the Persians between Cyrus and Alexander," in other words, to the Achaemenians.1 An examination of the Pahlawi inscriptions
1 The fact that the inscriptions of the first class were in the language of the Achsemenian kings — in other words, in an Old Persian language — was suggested to Grotefend by the position of honour always occupied by them in the trilingual tablets.
DECIPHERMENT OF INSCRIPTIONS 61
of the Sdsanians, already deciphered by de Sacy, suggested to him the probability that the first word in the inscription was the name of a king of this dynasty, and the second his title. He then observed that that name which stood at the beginning of the second inscription was in the first placed after the title, which (again guided by the analogy of the Sisanian inscrip- tions) he rightly assumed to signify " King of Kings," with a slight final modification, which he correctly conjectured to be the inflexion of the genitive case, from which he gathered that the two names in the first inscription were those of father and son. One of these names, which Xychsen had read Malkeusch, appeared to him to square best with Darius, whose name in the Books of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah occurs in the form Dariy&vush (" Darjavesch ") ; another, read by Tychsen as Osch patscha, with Xerxes ("Khschhersche). For both these names consisted, in the Old Persian inscriptions, of seven separate characters (these being, as we now know, in the first, D. A. R. Y. V. U. SH, and in the second, K. SH. Y. A. R. SH. A), of which one (A) occurred three times, and three (R, Y, SH) twice, in the two names ; and the assumption as to the reading of these names was confirmed by the order of the component letters of each. Now it was known from the accounts of the Greek historians that Darius was the son of Hystaspes, which name appeared in Anquetil's work in the native forms Gushtasp, Vishtasp, &c. ; and, from the analogy of the inscription of Xerxes, it appeared probable that Darius also in his inscription would mention this, his father's name. And, in effect, there occurred in the proper place in this inscription of Darius a group of ten letters, of which the last three (now known to represent H. Y. A.) had already been recognised as the case- ending of the genitive. Of the remaining seven, two — the third (SH) and fifth (A) — were already known, while, from what was common to the Greek and Avestic forms of the name, the fourth, sixth, and seventh might fairly be assumed to
62 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
represent T, S, and P respectively. There remained the two initial letters, of which it was pretty evident that the first was a consonant (G or V), and the second a vowel (not U, already known, and therefore presumably I) ; but Grotefend actually read them as G. O. instead of V. I.
Such were the great and definite results of Grotefend's discoveries. Further than this he endeavoured to go ; but,
on the one hand, he was misled by his belief that Grresuitsd>s t^ie language or" tne inscriptions was identical with
that of the Avesta, and by the fact that Anquetil's account of the latter was imperfect and in many details erroneous ; and, on the other hand, the materials at his disposal were inadequate and did not supply sufficient data for full decipherment and interpretation. Hence his scheme of the values of the letters was, as we now know, scarcely even half correct, while his interpretations and transcriptions of the texts which he attacked were but approximations. Thus one of the Persepolitan inscriptions with which he especially dealt (Niebuhr, PI. xxiv ; Spiegel's Keilinschnfteny ed. 1862, p. 48, B ), is now known to read as follows : —
Ddrayavush . Khshdyathiya . vazraka . Khshdyathiya . Khshdyathi* ydndm . Khshdyathiya . dahyundm . Vishtdspahya . putra . Hakhdma- nishiya . hya . imam . tacharam . akunaush.
That is to say : —
" Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king of the pro- vinces, the son of Vishtaspa, the Achasmenian, who made this temple."
Grotefend's transcription and translation were as follows : —
Ddrheusch . Khshchioh . eghre . KhshehiSh . Khshehioheichdo . thshehioh . Ddhutchdo . Goschtdspdhe . bun . akheotchoschoh . Ah . ooo . Moro . eziitchusch.
" Darius, rex fortis, rex regum, rex Daharum (tilius) Hystaspis, stirps mundi rectoris. In constellatione mascula. Moro rov Ized."
DECIPHERMENT OF INSCRIPTIONS 63
Yet, though Grotefend failed to accomplish all he attempted, few would have ventured even to attempt what he accom- plished ; and his method, and the discoveries to
Estimation of .it/- • • • • r i
Grotetend's which it led, formed the starting-point or the
achievement. . . , . , *~ , , . .
further researches which ultimately resulted in the complete solution of this difficult enigma. De Sacy, whose discoveries had prepared the way for those of Grotefend, was the first to recognise the immense value of his results, and to make them more widely known, while the rival system of interpretation proposed by Saint-Martin met with but little acceptance.1
The next great advances in decipherment were made almost simultaneously in the years 1836-1837 by Lassen, Burnouf, and Rawlinson, the last of whom, working inde- pcndentlyin Persia, without knowledge of what had been effected by Grotefend, succeeded in reading the names of Arshdma, Ariyaramna, Chaishpish, and Hakhimanish in the first paragraph of the great Behistun inscription of Darius. Burnouf had already made use of his knowledge of Sanskrit to elucidate the Avesta, both by the comparative method and by the use of Neriosengh's Sanskrit translation ; and he now turned from the completion of his great work on the Yasna 2 to an examination of the Persian cuneiform inscriptions, for the study of which the labours of the unfortu- nate traveller Schultz had furnished him with fresh materials from Alvand and Van.3 His work was to some extent thrown
1 For further details and references as to the progress of the decipher ment, see Spiegel's Kurze Geschichte der Entziffemng(at pp. 119-132, of the already-cited edition of his Keilinschriftcn ; also Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, vol. ii, pp. 64-74, Geschichte d. Entzifferung und Erklarung d. Inschriften.
3 Commentairc sur le Yafna, I'un des livres rcligieux des Parses : ouvrage contenant le texte zend explique POUT la premiere fats, les variantes des qualre manuscrits dc la Bibliotheque royale et la version sanscrite intdite de Neriosengh (Paris, 1833-1835).
3 Mfmoirc sur deux Inscriptions cuneijormts (Paris, 1836.)
into the shade by the more brilliant results of Lassen ; but, besides reading the name of the Supreme Being, Ahuramazda, and some other words, and pointing out that the language ot the inscriptions, though akin to that of the A vesta, was not identical with it, and that the writing did not, as a rule, express the short vowels except when they were initial, he first called attention to the list of names of countries contained in the great inscription of Darius. This last indication, communicated to Lassen in the summer of 1835, was fruitfully utilised by the latter for the fuller and more accurate determination of the values of the letters, and the demonstration of the existence of an inherent short a (as in Sanskrit) in many of the con- sonants, so that, for example, S.P.R.D. was shown by him to stand for Sparda. Within the next four years (up to 1840) Lassen's results had been further extended, elucidated, and corrected by Beer and Jacquet, while new materials collected by the late Claude James Rich, British Resident at Baghdad, had been rendered available by publication, and Westergaard had brought back fresh and more accurate copies of the Persepolitan inscriptions.
It is unnecessary in this place to trace further the progress of
this branch of Persian studies, or to do more than mention the
later discoveries of Loftus (1852) and Dieulafoy
Further progress _
of the study of (looA) at busa ; the photographs taken at
Old Persian. ^ +' . ' F, r ,1 •
rersepolis in 1070 and the following years by Stolze, and published at Berlin in 1882 in two volumes entitled 'Persepolis ; and the additional light thrown on the Old Persian language and script by such scholars as Bang, Bartholomae, Bollensen, Foy, HaleVy, Hitzig, Hubschmann, Kern, Miiller, Menant, Sayce, Thumb, and others. Nor need the wild theories as to the talismanic character of the inscrip- tions propounded by M. le Comte de Gobineau in his Traite des hritures cuneiformes (Paris, 1864) detain us even for a moment. A few words must, however, be said as to Oppert's ingenious theory as to the origin and nature of the script.
ORIGIN OF PERSIAN CUNEIFORM 65
From the Old Persian character the Assyrian differs in one
most essential respect, in spite of the superficial resemblance ot
these two cuneiform scripts. The former, as we
Oppert's theory . III-I/L i > ,
as to the origin have seen, is truly alphabetical (the alphabet con-
of the Persian . . ' J r
cuneiform sistmg of forty-one symbols, whereof four are
alphabet. J / '
logograms, or abbreviations for the constantly- occurring words " Ahuramazda," " King," " Land," and " Earth," while one is a mark of punctuation to separate the words from one another) ; the latter is a syllabary, or rather an immense collection of ideograms or logograms, comparable to the Chinese or Egyptian hieroglyphics. An Assyrian graphic symbol usually connotes, in other words, an idea, not the sound representing that idea, and has, therefore, only a casual relation to its phonetic equivalent, so that, for instance, an ideogram from the older Akkadian could continue to be used in Assyrian with the same meaning but with a different phonetic value. Oppert's theory is that the Old Persian letters, invented about the time of the fall of the Medic and rise of the Persian (Achasmenian) power, were derived from the Assyrian ideograms as follows. An Assyrian ideogram was given its Persian phonetic equivalent, or, in other words, read as a Persian ideogram ; this ideogram was then simplified and used as a letter having the value of the initial sound of the Persian word ; and this process was continued until enough graphic symbols, or letters, had been formed to represent all the Persian phonetic elements. Thus the Persians, in the sixth century before Christ, made this great advance from a system of ideograms (probably hieroglyphic or pictorial in their first origin) to a real alphabet ; but their analysis stopped short at the separation of a short vowel following a consonant, and therefore they employed separate characters, for example, for the syllables ka^ ku ; gay gu ; ja, ji ; da^ diy du ; ma, miy mu^ &c.
We see here another illustration of the extent to which Persia, from very early times, has been under Semitic influence,
6
66 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
first Assyrian, then Aramaic, and lastly Arabian. The Assyrian influence is as unmistakable in the sculptures of Persepolis and Bchistun as in the inscriptions; and, as «r Spiegel has well shown (Eranische Alterthunukunde^ vol. i, pp. 446-485), it can be traced with equal clearness in the domain of religion, probably also of politics, social organisation, jurisprudence, and war. "The great King, the King of kings, the King in Persia, the King of the Provinces," was heir in far more than mere style and title to " the great King, the King of Assyria," with whose might Rabshakch threatened Hezekiah. And this relation perhaps explains the enigma presented by the Huzvirish element in Pahlawi which so long misled students as to the true character of the latter.
Why did the Pahlawi scribe, fully acquainted with the alpha- betical use of the Pahlawi character, write the old title "King of kings" as Malkan-malka when (as we know fr°m tnc contemporary historian Ammianus Mar- cellinus) his soldiers and people hailed him (as they still hail their monarch) as Shahun-shi'ih — the later equivalent of the old Khshdyathiya Khshayathiy&nam ? Why did he write bisra for meat and lahma for bread when (as we learn from the author of the Fihrist, and other well-informed writers of the early Muhammadan period) he read these Aramaic words into Persian as gusht and n&n ? To us it seems unnatural enough, though even we do pretty much the same thing when we read " /'.*." as " that is," " e.g." as " for example," and « tf " or " & " as " and." Yet how much easier and more natural was such a procedure to a people accustomed to scripts wholly composed of ideograms and symbols appealing directly to the intelligence without invoking aid from the auditory sense ? If the Assyrian adopted the Akkadian logogram connoting the idea of " father," and read for it his own and not the original foreign equivalent, why should the Persian hesitate to treat the Aramaic words malk a, b'nrAt lahmd
BURNOUF'S WORK 67
and the like, in the same way, as though they too were mere ideograms rather than groups of letters ? The general use of Pahlawi, it is true, belongs, as we have already seen, to a time when Assyria had long passed away, viz., the Sasdnian period (A.D. 226-640), and the early Muhammadan times imme- diately succeeding it, but it has been traced back to the third and fourth centuries before Christ, and may in all likelihood have existed at a yet earlier date. In the essentially conserva- tive East there is nothing very wonderful in this ; and the siyaq, universally used for keeping accounts even at the present day in Persia, presents a somewhat analogous phenomenon, for the symbols used therein instead of the ordinary Arabic numerals are in reality mutilated and abbreviated forms of the Arabic names of the different numbers, a fact which the Persian accountant who uses them often forgets and occasionally does not know.
Before speaking further of Pahlawi, however, something
more must be said of the continued progress of Avestic studies.
We have seen what help was derived from Sanskrit
Further progress . n r i T i • i r i
of Avesta by ijurnouf and Lassen in their study of the Achaemenian Inscriptions, and have already alluded incidentally to the monumental work on the Yasna published by the former in 1833-1835. Working with the copious materials collected by Anquetil, which had long lain neglected in the Bibliotheque Nationale, he first set himself, by careful collation of the MSS., to establish a correct text of this portion of the Avesta. For the elucidation of this he relied chiefly on Neriosengh's Sanskrit translation, as repre- senting the oldest traditional interpretation available to him, which, however, he weighed, tested, and proved with the most careful and judicious criticism ; while at the same time he sought to establish the grammar and lexicography of the Avestic language. But he was content to show the way to others, and to place the study of the Avesta on a really sound and scientific basis : the large volume which he published elu-
68 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
cidates primarily only the first of the seventy-two chapters composing the Yasna, which is itself but one of the five divisions (the liturgical) of the Zoroastrian Scriptures ; and though at a later date (1844-1846), he subjected the ninth chapter of the Yasna to a similar though briefer examination, he carried no further his investigations in this field.
The appearance of Bopp's great work on the Comparative Grammar of the Aryan, or Indo-Europaean, languages about this period brings us to the next great controversy "TKods.''the which raged round the A vesta— that of the Tra- ditional and Comparative Schools. By this time no sane and competent scholar had any doubt as to the genuineness of the book itself; the question now was as to the worth of the traditional interpretation of the Zoroastrians. Burnouf, in so far as he relied on the traditional explanation of Neriosengh (for the older Pahlawi translations were not at that time sufficiently understood to be of much use), belonged to the former school ; Bopp, pre-eminently a Sanskritist and Comparative Philologist, to whom the study of the Avesta was a mere branch of Sanskrit Philology, to the latter. The publication (1852-1858) of Westergaard's and Spiegel's editions of the text greatly enlarged the circle of students who were able to attack on their own account the problems presented by the Avesta ; and what Darmesteter calls " the war of the methods" (/.<?., the Traditional and the Comparative) soon broke out on all sides. Of the Traditional School the most prominent representatives were, after Burnouf, Spiegel, and Justi, and, in a lesser degree, de Harlez and Geiger : of the Comparative School, Benfey and Roth. Windischmann held a middle position, while Haug, at first an ardent follower of Benfey, returned from India fully convinced of the value of the Parsi tradition, and thereafter became one of the pioneers of Pahlawi studies, a path in which he was followed with even more signal success by West, " whose unparalleled learning and
"THE WAR OF THE METHODS" 69
acumen," as Geldner says,1 " have raised up Pahlawi studies
from the lowest grade of science," so that " indirectly he
became the reformer of Avesta studies." But it
Geldner's enco- . LIT
mium on Dar- was by that incomparable man, the late James
mesteter and his J r
"historical Darmesteter, that the judicious and almost ex- method. ' * J
haustive use of the traditional materials (combined, of course, with a careful study of the texts themselves) was carried to its fullest extent, and it is pleasant to find Geldner, whose methods of textual criticism he had so severely criticised, describing his work and methods in the following generous words : — " 2
" From the beginning an eager partisan of the Sasanian translation and thoroughly grounded in Pahlawi, he in no wise based his inter- pretation on this alone, but recognised that, amidst the strife as to the best method, only a comprehensive enlargement of the field of vision could lead from groping and guessing to clear and certain knowledge. His immediate sources of help are the native trans- lations, carefully used in detail, and thoroughly studied as a whole, and the entire learning accumulated therein. His indirect means of help is the entire tradition from Sasanian times down to the present day, the whole Pahlawi and Pazand literature, the Shahnama, the Arabian chroniclers and historical notices of the Ancients, personal information derived from living Parsis, their customs and ideas, the ritual of the present time, which is likewise a piece of unfalsified tradition, and, on the linguistic side, the entire material of Iranian philology in all its degrees of development and dialectical variations, and likewise Sanskrit, especially that of the Vedas. The dispositions and beginnings had, for the most part, been already made before him, although imperfectly, and with insufficient means, but Darmesteter combined them and carried them on to a certain conclusion. The ripest fruit of these endeavours is his most recent monumental work : le Zend-Avesta, traduclion nouvelle avec commen- taire historique et philologique (Annales du Musee Guimet, vols. xxi, xxii, xxiv, Paris, 1892-3). Darmesteter rejuvenated the traditional school, and is properly speaking the creator of what he calls the
1 See Geldner's excellent article (Gcschichte der Awesfaforschung) in vol. ii of Geiger and Kuhn's Gntndriss dcr Iranischcn Pltilologie, pp. 40-46, where full particulars and references concerning the study of the Avesta will be found. * Op. laud., p. 45,
70 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
historical method of the study of the Ave^ta, for the elucidation of which he collected an incomparably rich material. How far indeed he succeeded in this, how far as regards points of detail he overshot the mark, the Future must decide."
Let us now return to the history of the decipherment of the
Pahlawi inscriptions and texts — that branch of Persian philology
in which, despite the fruitful labours of cieSacy and
Continuation of , . c , i 11 i •
the decipher- his successors, or whom we shall speak imme-
nient of Pahlawi. .. , . , . ..... r . . ..— .
diately, and the copious illumination or this difficult study which we owe in recent times to West, Andreas, Noldeke, Darmesteter, Salemann, and others, most yet remains to be achieved.
De Sacy's brilliant attempt to read some of the Sasanian inscriptions at Naqsh-i-Rustam (situated on the cliffs which
lie to the right of the Pulwar river, at the point
The Naqsh-i- , , , , , , . ,
Rustam Sasa- where the valley through which its course has
nian inscriptions. ... i • i i i • i A /r r \ i i •
hitherto lam debouches into the Marv-Dasht plain between Sfwand and Zargun, and consequently opposite Perse- polis, which lies across the river, some two or three miles eastward) has been already mentioned (pp. 57-8 supra). The inscription which he especially studied was one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of those which the Sasanian monarchs cut on these rocks in imitation of their Achasmenian predecessors, for it dates from the reign of Ardashfr (Artakhshatr) the son of Papak, the founder of this dynasty (A.D. 226-241). It is written in two forms of Pahlawi (the so-called Chaldaean and Sasanian), each having its own peculiar script, and is accom- panied by a Greek translation, which runs as follows : — J
« TOYTO TQ yrposonON MASAA2NOY 6EOY APTAfrjoOY BA2IAEO2 BA2IAEQN APIANQN ffcy^OYS 6EQN YIOY 6EOY ITAIIAieOr BASIAEQ2."
1 I have taken the texts from Haug's Essay on Pahlawi (Stuttgart, 1870), pp. 4-5, and have followed his method of representing the obliterated letters of the Greek inscription by using small type instead of capitals. When I saw and examined the inscription in March, 1888, when on my way from the north to Shiraz, it had suffered still further defacement.
PAHLA Wt INSCRIPTIONS 71
The Sdsanian Pahlawi, when transliterated, runs something like this : —
"PATKARI ZANA MAZDA YASN BAGI ARTAKHSHATR, MALKAN MALKA AIRAN, MINU CHITRI MIN YAZTAN,BARA PAPAKI MALKA."'
The English translation is : —
"THE EFFIGY OF THAT MAZDA-WORSHIPPING DIVI- NITY ARTAKHSHATR, KING OF KINGS OF IRAN (PERSIA), OF SPIRITUAL ORIGIN FROM THE GODS, SON OF PAPAK THE KING."
Encouraged by the results of this investigation, de Sacy proceeded in his third and fourth memoirs to examine the Pahlawi legends on certain Sasanian coins, as well deP^^»U?e3iSts as otner inscriptions from Behistun of the same msrtotogy. period. How his labours formed the starting- point for Grotefend's attempt to decipher the Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions we have already seen (pp. 60—6 1 supra). The numismatic portion of his work was continued by Ouseley (1801), who succeeded in reading the legends on some twoscore Sasanian coins; and also (1808-1813) by Tychsen.
The character in which the Pahlawi books are written differs
considerably from that of the contemporary monuments
(inscriptions and coins) of the Sasanians, and is
Pahlawi of ^ '
inscriptions and far more ambiguous. It must be remembered
books. . °
that, with the exception of the fragments of Pahlawi papyrus discovered some twenty-two years ago in the Fayyum in Egypt, and hitherto unpublished and but partially
1 The words printed in italics are Huzvarish (a term which will be ex- plained presently), and, in reading, the Persian would replace the Aramaic equivalent. Thus zand (" that ") would be read dn ; Malkdn-malkd (King of kings"), Shdhdn-shdh ; min ("from"), az; bard ("son"), ptir or pnhar ; and malkd, shah.
72 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
deciphered, the oldest specimen of written Pahlawi goes back only to A.D. 1323 — that is, is subsequent by more than a thou- sand years to the inscription cited above. During this period (for the last half of which the Pahlawi script had ceased to be used save by the Zoroastrian priests for the transcription of works already extant) the written character had undergone considerable degeneration, so that characters originally quite distinct had gradually assumed the same form, thus giving rise to polyphony, or the multiple values of single characters. This polyphony already existed to some extent in the inscrip- tions, but in the book-Pahlawi it has undergone so great an extension that, to take only one instance, a single character now stands for the four values z, d, g, y, each of which had in the inscriptions its separate graphic symbol. Hence the difficulty of the book-Pahlawi, and hence the value of the Sdsdnian inscriptions in its elucidation. This value Marc Joseph Miiller, professor at Munich, thoroughly
Miiller-3 eseay. J • j • £ * ^ 17 D L/ •
recognised in his Lssai sur la langue Pehlviey published in the Journal Asiatique of April, 1839, which essay, as Haug says, marks a fresh epoch in Pahlawi studies. Amongst the Zoroastrians, especially amongst the Parsis of Bombay, a traditional but corrupt method of readjng the Pahlawi books had been preserved, which resulted in a monstrous birth of utterly fictitious words, never used by any nation either in speech or writing, such as boman (really bard] " son," modd (really malyd] "word," Anhoma (really dwharmaza) " God," jamnuntan (really yemaleluntan] "to speak," and the like. In each instance the ambiguous Pahlawi character admitted of this reading, as it admitted of a dozen others, but a com- parison with the less ambiguous inscriptional Pahlawi sufficed in many cases to establish the correct form, and this control it was Muller's merit to have introduced, though naturally it was not in every case vouchsafed to him to arrive at the correct reading.
Before going further, it will be proper to say something
HUZVARISH 73
more as to the essential peculiarity of Pahlawi to which we have already repeatedly alluded, namely, its Huzvdrish or Zavdrishn element of Aramaic words more or less defaced in many cases by the addition of Persian inflexional terminations and " phonetic complements." When a Pahlawi text is read, a large proportion of the words composing it are found to be Semitic, not Iranian, and, to be more precise, to be drawn from an Aramaic dialect closely akin to Syriac and Chaldaean. Now since an ordinary modern Persian text also contains a large proportion of Semitic (in this case Arabic) words, which are actually read as they are written, and are, in fact, foreign words as completely incorporated in Persian as are the Greek, Latin, French, and other exotic words which together con- stitute so large a portion of the modern English vocabulary in our own language, it was at first thought that the Aramaic element in Pahlawi was wholly comparable to the Arabic element in modern Persian. But a more careful examination showed that there was an essential difference between the two cases. However extensively one language may borrow from another, there is a limit which cannot be exceeded. It would be easy to pick out sentences of modern Persian written in the high-flown style of certain ornate writers in which all the substantives, all the adjectives, and all the verbal nouns were Arabic, and in which, moreover, Arabic citations and phrases abounded ; yet the general structure of the sentence, the pronouns, and the auxiliary verbs would and must continue to be Persian. Similarly in a sentence like " I regard this expres- sion of opinion as dangerous," only four of the eight words employed are really of English descent, yet the sentence is thoroughly English, and it is inconceivable that the pronouns "I "and "this," or the particles "of" and "as," should be replaced by equivalents of foreign extraction. In Pahlawi, how- ever, the case is quite different. Haug goes, perhaps, a trifle too far when he says (Essay on Pahlawi^ pp. 120-121) "all the case-signs and even the plural suffixes in the nouns ; all the
74 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
personal, demonstrative, interrogative and relative pronouns ; all the numerals from one to ten ; the most common verbs (including the auxiliaries) such as 'to be, to go, to come, to wish, to eat, to sleep, to write, &c.' ; almost all the prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions, and several important terminations for the formation of nouns, as well as a large majority of the words in general (at all events in the Sasanian inscriptions), are of Semitic origin ; " yet in the main such is the case, and " the verbal terminations, the suffixed pronouns and the con- struction of the sentence " are often the only Irdnian part of the Pahlawi phrase, though they are its essential and charac- teristic part. But in addition to this we have a number of monstrous, hybrid words, half Aramaic, half Persian, which no rational being can imagine were ever really current in speech. Thus the Semitic root meaning " to write " consists of the three radicals K, T, B, and the third person plural of the imperfect is yektibhn (Arabic, yaktuburi), while the Persian verb is nabishtany napishtan, or navishtan. The Pahlawi scribe, how- ever, wrote y&ktibun-tany but assuredly never so read it : to him yektiblin, though a significant inflected word in Aramaic, was a mere logogram or ideogram standing for napish-, to which he then added the appropriate Persian termination. So likewise for the Persian word mard^ "man," he wrote the Semitic gabra, but when he wished the alternative form mardum to be read, he indicated this by the addition of the " phonetic complement," and wrote gabra-um.
The analogies to this extraordinary procedure which exist in Assyrian have already been pointed out. In the older Turdnian language of Akkad "father" was adda. "When the Assyrians," says Haug, " wished to write c father,' they used the first character, ad or at, of adda, but pronounced it abt which was their own word for * father ' ; and to express ' my father,' they wrote atuyay but read it abuya ; u being the Assyrian nominative termination, and ya the suffix meaning * my,' which, in the writing, were added to the foreign word
HUZVARISH 75
at." So in like manner the Pahlawi scribe who wished to write " father " wrote abltar for pitar (pidar\ the Assyrian ab being used as a mere ideogram, of which the Persian equivalent was indicated by the " phonetic complement " -tar.
Another curious (and, in this instance, valuable) feature of the Pahlawi script was that in the case of a Persian word recognised at that time as compound and capable of analysis, each separate element was represented by a Semitic or Huzvdrish equivalent. Take, for instance, the common Persian verb pindashtan, " to think, deem." A modern Persian has no idea that it is capable of analysis, or is other than a simple verb ; but the Pahlawi scribe was conscious of its compound character, and wrote accordingly pavan ( = pa, "for") hand (=/'», " this ") yakhsanun-tan (= ddshtan, "to hold") ; and NOldeke has called attention to a similar analysis of the common word magar ("unless," "if not"), which is represented by two Aramaic words, or Huzvdrish elements, of which the first signifies " not " and the second "if." And this principle has another curious and instructive application. The modern Persian pronoun of the first person singular is man, which is derived from the stem of the oblique cases of the correspond- ing Old Persian pronoun a dam (= Avestic azem], whereof the genitive is mana. Of this fact the Pahlawi script takes cognisance in writing the Semitic //, " to me" (or "of me"), as the Huzvdrish equivalent of man.
These considerations, apart from external evidence, might have suggested to a very acute mind the belief that the peculiarities of Pahlawi lay almost entirely in the script, and that they disappeared when it was read aloud. Fortunately, however, there is sufficient external evidence to prove that this was actually the case.
First, we have the direct testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus, who says (xix, 2, n) : " Persis Saporem et Saansaan [i.e., Shahan-shah~\ adpellantibus et Pyrosen [i.e., Piruz or Pertz], quod rex regibus imperans et bellorum victor interpretatur."
This notice refers to Shapiir II (A. p. 309-379), whose title stands on his coins Malkan malka^ but was in the actual speech of the people, then as now, Shahdn-shdh.
Secondly, we have the direct testimony of the learned author
of the Fihrist, Muhammad b. Ishaq (A.D. 987-8), who relies
here, as in other places where he speaks of matters appertaining
to Sasanian Persia, on the authority of that remarkable man
Ibnu'l-Muqaffa*, a Persian Zoroastrian who
Ibnu'l Muqaffa'. «-_,^r~— * — * .
flourished about the middle of the eighth century of our era, made a doubtfully sincere profes- sion of Islam, and was put to death about A.D. ^6q. He was reckoned by Ibn Muqla, the wazir and calligraphist (t A.M. 939), as one of the ten most eloquent speakers and
writers of Arabic, and Ibn Khaldun the Moor pays a similar
j-^^y,— ,, x n ^^ ^f~^^^ " '^-/i \j tribute to his command of tnatlanguage ; and with this he
combined a thorough knowledge of Pahlawi, and translated several important works from that language into Arabic, of which, unfortunately, only one of the least interesting (the Boo^ of KalUa and Dimna] has survived to^ouTtmie^T^elyingon the authority of this learned man, the author of the Fihrist, after describing seven different scripts (Kitdba) used in pre- Muhammadan times by the Persians, continues as follows, in a passage to which Quatremere first called attention in 1835, but of which the original text was not published till 1866, when Charles Ganneau printed it with a new translation and some critical remarks on Quatremere's rendering : —
" And they have likewise a syllabary [hijd, " a spelling," not kitdba,
"a script"] called Zawdrishn [or Huzvdrisli], wherein they write
the letters either joined or separate, comprising about a thousand
vocables, that thereby they may distinguish words otherwise
ambiguous. For instance, when one desires to write gusht, which
means ' meat,' he writes bisrd like this [here follows the word
written in the Pahlawi scnptj, but reads it as^guslit ; and similarly
\ when one desires to write ndn, which means bread, he writes lahmd
hike this [again follows the Pahlawi word], but reads it ndn; and
RECAPITULATION 77
so whatever they wish to write, save such things as have no need of a like substitution, which you write as they are pronounced." *
Thirdly, we have the fact of the complete disappearance of the whole Aramaic or Huzvarish element in even the earliest specimens of Persian written in the Arabic character, which could hardly have occurred if these words had ever been used in speech, but which was natural enough if they belonged to the script only, and were mere ideograms.
Fourthly, we have the tradition surviving amongst the Zoroastrians to the present day, a tradition faulty enough in detail, as we have already seen, but quite clear on the general principle that Huzvarish words ought to be read as Persian. Hence the so-called Pazend and Parsi books, which are merely transcriptions of Pahlawi books into the unambiguous Avestic and Arabic characters respectively, all the Huzvarish, or Aramaic, words being replaced by their Persian equivalents, or supposed equivalents.
It may be well that we should conclude this chapter with
a recapitulation of the various terms that have Detwmsno1 been used in speaking of the ancient languages
of Persia, an explanation of their precise mean- ing, and a statement of their etymology, where this is known.
Medic, the language of Media, i.e., the western part of what
we now call Persia, the Mdda of Darius's
inscription, the Mdhdt (plural of M&h, which occurs as a prefix in Mah-Basra, Mah-Kufa, Mah-Nahawand,
T See Haug's Essay on Pahlawi, pp. 37 et scqq. ; Journal Asiatiqtte foi 1835 (p. 256) and 1866 (p. 430) ; Fihrist, ed. Fliigel, p. 14. I differ from Haug's rendering in several particulars, especially as regards the sense of mutashdbihdt, which he translates " [words] which have the same mean- ing," whereas I take it to mean " Persian words which would be ambiguous if written in the Pahlawi character," but of which the Huzvarish equivalents are not so ambiguous. Any one who will write nan in Pahlawi script, and then consider in how many different ways it can be read, will easily see where the " ambiguity " lies.
78 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
&c.) of the early Arabian geographers, a region having for its capital the ancient Ecbatana (Hagmatana of the inscriptions), now called Hamadan. Of this language we have no remains, unless we accept Darmesteter's view, that it is identical with the language of the Avesta, or Oppert's, that it is the language which occupies the second place (between the Old Persian and the Assyrian versions) in the Achasmenian trilingual inscriptions. It was in all probability very closely akin to Old Persian, and certain words of it preserved by writers like Herodotus make it appear likely that from it are descended some of the modern dialects of Persian. Avestic^ the language of the Avesta, often improperly called " Zend," sometimes also termed " Old Bactrian," a most undesirable name, since it is, as we have seen,
Avestic. . .
quite as likely that its home was in Atropatene (Azarbdyjan) in the north-west as in Bactria in the north-east. In it is written the Avesta, and the Avesta only ; of which, however, certain ancient hymns called Gdthds are in a different dialect, much more archaic than that in which the remaining portions of the book are composed. A special character, constructed from, but far superior to, the Pahlawi script, is used for writing it. The word Avesta can scarcely be traced back beyond Sasanian times, though Oppert believes it to be intended by the word abastam in Darius's Behistun inscription (iv, 64). It appears in Pahlawi as Avlstdk (Darmesteter, Apastd/d, in Syriac as cApastdgd^ in Arabic as tAbastdq. Andreas is inclined to derive it from the Old Persian upastd ("help, support") and to interpret it as meaning " ground-text." This, at any rate, is its signification in the term " Avesta and Zend," which gave rise to the misleading " Zend- Avesta " : the " Avesta " is the original text of the Zoroastrian scripture, and the " Zend " is the running Pahlawi "explanation" (translation and commentary) which generally accompanies it. If, therefore, the term "Zend
RECAPITULATION 79
language " be used at all, it should mean the language of the Zend, or explanation, i.e., the Pahlawi language ; but as it was applied in Europe, owing to a misunderstanding of the terms, to the language of the original text, it is best to drop the expression " Zend language " altogether.
Old 'Persian is the term which denotes the ancient language
of Persia proper (Persis, Fars), the official language of the
Achaemenian inscriptions, and without doubt the
speech of Darius, Xerxes, and the other kings of
this house. It is known to us by the inscriptions, and by
them only.
'Pahlawi^ as shown by Olshausen, properly means Parthian ;
for as the ancient mithray chithra, go into mihry chlhr^ so
Parthava* the Old Persian name for Parthia,
PahlawL .
goes through the analogous but hypothetical forms TarhaVj Talhav, into Tahlav, a term applied, under its Arabic form Fah/av, by the old Arabian geo- graphers to a certain region of Central and Western Persia said to include the towns of Isfahan, Ray, Hamadan and Nahawand, and a part of Azarbdyjan. As has been already said, we know but little of the Parthians from native sources ; so little that it is not certain whether they were an Iranian or a Turanian race ; the national legend takes so little account of them — whom it calls Muluku't-tawffif^ " tribal kings " — that one single page of the ShdhnAma amply suffices to contain all that Firdawsi (who speaks of them as illiterate barbarians unworthy of commemoration) has to say of them ; and the Sasanian claim to have revived the national life and faith crushed by Alexander is to some extent borne out by the Greek inscriptions of the earlier Parthian coins, and the title "Phil-Hellenes" which it pleased their kings to assume. Yet the name of the "Pahlavas" was known in India, and survives to the present day in Persia as an epithet of the speech and the deeds of the old heroic days — the days of the pahlawdns, " heroes," or mighty warriors. As applied
So HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
to the language, however, it has a much less precise signification in Persia than in Europe, where its application is definitely restricted to Sasanian or " Middle " Persian written in its appropriate script with the Aramaic or Huzvarish element of which we have spoken. But the "Pahlawi" in which Firdawsi's legendary monarchs and heroes indite their letters, the "high-piping Pahlavi " of 'Umar Khayyam and Hafiz, the Fah/aviyydt, or verses in dialect, cited in many Persian works, and the " Pahlawi " mentioned by Hamdu'llah Mustawfi of Qazwin, a historical and geographical writer of the fourteenth century, as being spoken in various parts of Persia, especially in the north-west, is a much less definite thing. Tahmurath, "the Binder of Demons" (Div-band), was the first, according to Firdawsi, to reduce to writing " not one but nearly thirty tongues, such as Greek (Rumi), Arabic (Tazi\ Persian ( Tarsi), Indian, Chinese and Pahlawi, to express in writing that which thou hearest spoken." J Now Tahmurath was the predecessor of Jamshid, the Yima of the Avesta and Yama of the Hindu books, an entirely mythical personage belonging to the common Indo-Irauian Legend, that is to say, to the remotest Aryan times, long before Avestic or Old Persian, let alone Middle Persian, were differentiated from the primitive Aryan tongue. When, on the other hand, a writer like the above-mentioned Hamdu'llah Mustawfi says that " Pahlawi " is spoken in a certain village, he means no more than did a villager or Quhriid (a district in the mountains situated one stage south of Kashan) who, in reply to the writer's inquiry as to the dialect there spoken, described it as " Furs-i-qadim" " Ancient Persian." With the Persians themselves (except the Zoroas- trians) the term Pahlawi, as a rule, means nothing more precise than this ; but in this book it is, unless otherwise specified, employed in the narrower acceptation of " Middle " or " Sasanian Persian." It is only so far Parthian that the earliest traces of it occur on the * Abd Zohar and sub-Parthian coins 1 Shdhndma, ed. Macan, vol. i, p. 18.
RECA PI TULA TION 8 i
of the third and fourth centuries before Christ, that is, during the Parthian period.1
Huzvdrish) Zawdrish, or Zawdrishn has been already ex- plained, but the derivation of the word itself is more doubtful. Many rather wild etymologies have been pro-
Huzvarish. J / f> f
posed, such as Uastur Hushangji s nuzvan-asur, " tongue of Assyria," and Derenbourg's " ha Sursl" " this is Syriac " ; but Haug's explanation, that it is a Persian verbal noun from a verb zuv&rldan^ " to grow old, obsolete," or a similar verb, supposed by Darmesteter to have " grown old and obsolete" to such an extent that it is only preserved in its original sense in the Arabic zawwara (verbal noun tazwlr\ " he forced, concealed, distorted, or falsified [the meaning of a text], he deceived, tricked, misled," is the most probable. Anyhow a graphic system which writes, for example, " aetuno yemalelunt aigh " for words intended to be read " etun goyand ku" (which is the Pazend or Parsi equivalent of the Huzvarish) may fairly be described as a " forcing," " concealing " or " distorting " of the speech which it is intended to represent. Just as Zend is the " explanation " of an Avestic text in Pahlawi, so is Tazend ( = paiti-zainti) a " re-explanation " of a Pahlawi text by transcribing it into a character Pazpd\dsi?nd less ambiguous than the Pahlawi script, and substituting the proper Persian words for their respective Huzvarish equivalents. When the Avesta character is used for this transcription, the result is called " Pazend " ; when the Persian (/.*., the Arabic) character is adopted, the term " Parsi " is often substituted. In either case the product is simply an archaic or archaistic (for unfortunately, owing to the defective character of the Parsee tradition, no great reliance can be placed on its accuracy in points of detail) form of " modern " (/'.*., post-Muhammadan) Persian, from which the whole Aramaic element has disappeared. Of several
1 See Haug's Essay, pp. 30-31, and West's article on Pahlawi Literature in vol. ii of the Grundriss d. Iran, Philolog., p. 75.
7
books such as the Mainyo-i-Khirad^ or "Spirit of Wisdom," we have both Pahlawi and Pazend or Parsi manuscripts,1 but all genuine Pazend texts ultimately go back to a Pahlawi original (though in some cases this is lost), since naturally no "re-explanation" was felt to be needful until, from long disuse, the true nature of Pahlawi began to be forgotten, and the scribes and scholars skilled in its use became nearly extinct.
When we speak of Modern 'Persian or simply 'Persian^ we
merely mean post-Muhammadan Persian for the writing of
which the Arabic character is used. "Old
Modern Persian. . «n/r-jji r> »»
Persian (Achaememan), " Middle Persian (Sasanian), and " Modern Persian " (Musulman) are terms quite analogous to the expressions " Old English " (i.e., Anglo-Saxon), "Middle English," and "Modern English" now commonly used to denote the different stages of develop- ment of our own tongue. In this sense we may without objection apply the term " Modern Persian " to the language of poets like Rudagi who flourished nearly a thousand years ago, just as we may say that Shakespeare wrote " Modern English " ; but if the application of this epithet to a language which goes back at least as far as the ninth century of our era be disliked, we can only suggest that it should be called " Musulman Persian," a term, however, which is not wholly beyond criticism. This language, as has been already pointed out, has changed less in ten centuries than English has in three, and archaisms of a distinctive character are almost confined to books composed before that great turning-point of Muhammadan history, the Mongol Invasion of the thirteenth century.
Before concluding this chapter, a few words may be fitly
1 A facsimile of the Pahlawi text of the Mainyo-i-Khirad has been lithographed by Andreas (Kiel, 1882) ; the Pazend transcription has been printed in the Roman character with the Sanskrit version and an English translation and glossary by West (Stuttgart, 1871).
MODERN DIALECTS 83
added concerning the dialects of Modern Persian, to which reference has already been repeatedly made : I mean dialects belonging to Persia proper, and confined to it, not tne interesting Iranian tongues of Afghdn- istdn, Baluchistan, Kurdistan and the Pamirs, together with Ossetic, concerning which full information and references will be found in the last portion of the first volume of the excellent Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie of Geiger and Kuhn, to which reference has already been made so fre- quently. More work remains to be done here than in any other branch of Persian philology, notwithstanding the labours of Ber£sine, Dorn, Salemann, and especially Zhukovski in Russia; Geiger, Socin, Hiibschmann, and Houtum-Schindler in Germany ; Huart and Querry in France ; and, to a very small extent, by myself in England. These dialects, which will, without doubt, when better understood, throw an altogether new light on many dark problems ot Persian philology, may be studied either orally on the spot (as has been done notably by Dorn in Mazandaran and Gilan ; Zhukovski in Central Persia, especially in the Kashan and Isfahan districts ; Socin in Kurdistan ; Houtum-Schindler at Yazd and Kirman, &c.), or in the scanty literary remains, which, nevertheless, are far more abundant than is generally supposed. Of the poets who wrote in dialect on a large scale only two are widely and generally known, viz., Amir Pazawdn imr (wnose poems have been published by Dorn) in Mazandaram, and Baba Tahir-i-'Uryan, whose quatrains (composed in what is variously described as " the dialect of Hamadan " or " the Luri dialect ") are widely cited and sung in Persia, and have been repeatedly published there, as well as by Huart (with a French translation) in the Journal Asiatique for 1885. The popularity of Baba Tdhir, who may be called the Burns of Persia, is due, no doubt, in large measure to the simplicity of his thoughts, the nearness of the dialect in which he writes to standard Persian, the easy and melodious flow of
84
his words, and their simple, uniform metre (that fully styled Hazaj-i-musaddas-i-mahdhuf) i.e.y the hexameter Hazaj, of which the last foot in each hemistich is apocopated, or deprived
of its last syllable, and which runs : |u |u |
u [ four times repeated in the quatrain). Here are
three of his best-known quatrains : —
i.
Chi khush bl mihrabuni az du sar bi, Ki yak-sar mihrabuni dard-i-sar bi I Agar Majnun dil-i-sht'mda'i ddsht, Dil-i-Layld az un shurida-tar bi I
" How sweet is love on either side confessed ! One-sided love is ache of brain at best. Though Majnun bore a heart distraught with love, Not less distraught the heart in Layla's breast ! "
In this quatrain the only dialect-forms are bl (== buvad, "is, will be"), and the substitution (common to most of the dialects, and prevalent to a great extent in the standard Persian speech of the present day, especially in the South) of the «-sound for d in «», mihrabuni.
2.
Magar shir u palangl, ay dil, ay dil I Ba-mii dd'int bi-jangi, ay dil, ay dil I Agar dastum futi, khunat vi-rizhum : Vi-mnum td chi rangi, ay dil, ay dill
"Lion or leopard fierce thou surely art, Ever at war with us, O heart, O heart ! If I can catch thee, I will spill thy blood, And see of what strange hue thou art, O heart ! "
Here ba-mh = ba mdy " with us " ; while dastum, vi-rlzhum^ and vi-vlnum are equivalent respectively to dastam (for bi-dastam^ "into my hand ")> bi-rlzam '« I will shed "), and bi-blnam ("I will see ").
DIALECTAL POETRY 85
3-
Vi-shum, vdshum, azin 'dlam ba-dar shunt ! Vi-shum, az Chin u Md-chin dir-tar shum t Vi-shum, az Hdjiydn-i-Haj bi-pursum Ki 'i' dirt bas-i', yd dir-tar shum t '
"Out of this world I will arise, and fare To China and beyond ; and when I'm there I'll ask the Pilgrims of the Pilgrimage, 4 Is here enough ? If not, direct me where I ' "
Here vt-shum = bi-shavamy " I will go " ; vdsham = either bdshamy " I will stay, abide," or bdz shavam^ " I will again go," or " I will go back " ; dir-tar = dur-tar, " further " j /' = /», " this " ; bas-l = bas-astt " is enough."
Besides these, however, many other well-known poets, such as Sa'di, Hafidh, Pindar or Bundar of Ray, Bus-haq (Abu Ishaq), the gastronomic poet and parodist of Shiraz, and others enumerated in my article in the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal for October, 1895 (pp. 773-825), on "the Poetry of the Persian Dialects," composed occasional verses in various forms of patois, though these present, save in the best and most ancient manuscripts, so hopelessly corrupt a text that it is very difficult to make anything of them. One very good and ancient manuscript, dated A.H. 635, of a probably unique Persian work on the history of the Seljuqs, entitled Kitabu Rabat? s-Sudur . . . . fi tawartkht Kay-Khusraw wa Al-i-Saljuqy composed by Najmu'd-Dm Abu Bakr Muhammad b. {Alf b. Sulayman b. Muhammad b. Ahmad b. al-Husayn b. Himmat ar-Rawandi, and now forming part of the magnificent library of the late M. Charles Schefer, contains numerous Fahlawiyydt, or verses in dialect, which appeared to me, on a cursory examination, to merit, in spite of their difficulty, a careful study on account of the age of the manuscript and the pre- sumable correctness of the text.
In the notices of poets and poetesses (eighty-nine in number) contained in ch. v, § 6 of I^amdu'llah Mustawfi's excellent
86 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGY
Tarikh-i-guzida, or "Select History," compiled in A.D. 1330, the following are mentioned as having composed verses in dialect (where such verses are actually cited, an asterisk is prefixed to the poet's name) : — *Abu'l-Majid Rayagam of the Qazwin district (late thirteenth century) ; Amir Ka', also of Qazwin ; *Utanj ZanjanI ( ?) ; Pindar or Bundar of Ray ; *Julaha ("the Weaver") of Abhar; *<Izzu'd-Din of Hamadan ; *Kan- i-Karachi (thirteenth century). The celebrated poet, traveller, and Isma'ili propagandist Nasir-i-Khusraw mentions in his Travels (Safar-nama^ edited with a French translation by Schefer, Paris, 1881, p. 6 of the text) that on his westward journey in A.D. 1046 he was questioned by the poet Qatran at Tabriz as to the meaning of certain verses in dialect of the poet Manjik, so that we have definite proof that such dialect- poetry has existed in Persia from the eleventh century till the present day. Asadi's Persian Lexicon (Lughat-i-Furs\ edited by Dr. Paul Horn from the unique Vatican MS. (Berlin, 1897), another eleventh century work, also cites here and there verses in dialect, called, as usual, " Pahlawi." Of prose works in dialect the two most remarkable are both heterodox, viz., the "Jawidan-l-Kabir, one of the principal books of the Hurufi sect which arose in the days of Tamerlane (fourteenth century), and is partly written in a West Persian dialect;1 and a romantic history of the Babi insurrection in Mazandaran in 1849, written in the dialect of that province, and published by Dorn, with a translation in vol. v of the Melanges Asiatiques (St. Petersburg, 1866), pp. 377, et seqq.
The best-known dialects of Persian spoken at the present
day are those of Mazandaran, Gilan, and Talish in the north ;
Samnan in the north-east: Kashan. Ouhrud, and
List of the ,.
more important Nam m the centre, with the peculiar Gabn
dialects. r
dialect of the Zoroastrians inhabiting Yazd,
1 See my Cat. of the Persian MSS. in the Cambridge University Library, pp. 69-86 ; and my article in the J. R. A. S. for Jan., 1898 (pp. 61-94), on the Literature and Doctrines of the Humfi Sect,
DIALECTS OF PERSIA 87
Kirman, Rafsinj£n, &c. ; Siwand in the south ; Luristan, Behbehan (which possesses a real poet, Rida-quli Khan by name), and Kurdistan in the west ; but many other dialects, some entirely unknown to Europeans, doubtless exist in out- of-the-way places. Of those hitherto hardly studied the Bakhtiyan idiom in the west and the Sistanf in the east most deserve careful attention.
CHAPTER III
THE PRE-MUHAMMADAN LITERATURE OF THE PERSIANS, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR LEGENDARY HISTORY, AS SET FORTH IN THE BOOK OF THE KINGS.
IN a book professing to treat of the literary history of any people in its entirety it would at first sight appear proper that each period and manifestation of the national genius should, as far as possible, receive an equal amount of attention. In the case of Persia, however, a complete survey of the whole ground could only be made at first hand either by a combination of specialists working together (as has been done in the truly admirable Grundriss der Iranischen 'Philologie of Geiger and Kuhn, to which reference has already so often been made), or by a scholar of such varied and multiple attainments as can but rarely coexist in one man. Corresponding with the philo- logical divisions already laid down, we have four separate literatures (though one is perhaps too scanty and limited in extent and character to deserve this title) which may fairly be called " Persian " : to wit : —
(i) The Old Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions of the Achae- menian kings.
(ii) The Avesta (or rather the fragments of it which we still possess), including the more ancient Gathds, written in a different and more archaic dialect, and believed by many to date from Zoroaster's own time.
A PERSONAL EXPLANATION 89
(iii) The Pahlawi literature, including the contemporary Sdsdnian Inscriptions.
(iv) The post-Muhammadan, or " Modern Persian " litera- ture of the last thousand years, which alone is usually under- stood as " Persian Literature."
To this last we must also add, for reasons advanced in Chap. I (PP- 3-4 supra),—
(v) That large portion of Arabic literature produced by Persians.
Now, of the three more ancient languages and literatures above mentioned I can claim only a superficial and second-hand knowledge, since the study of Modern Persian and Arabic is amply sufficient to occupy even the most active mind for a life-time. The other literatures lie quite apart, and primarily require quite different qualifications. For the student of Old Persian and Avestic a good knowledge of Sanskrit is essential, while a knowledge of Arabic, Muhammadan theology, and the like is of quite secondary importance. For the study of the first, moreover, a knowledge of Assyrian, and for the second, of Pahlawi, is desirable ; while Pahlawi, in turn, cannot be fruit- fully studied save by one well-versed in the Aramaic languages, especially Syriac and Chaldaean. Wherefore, since it behoves an author to write of what he knows at first hand, and since my knowledge of the pre-Muhammadan languages and litera- tures of Persia is only such as (with the desire of extending and completing, as far as possible, my view of the people whose later history is my chosen study) I have derived from the writings of experts, I would gladly have confined the scope of this book to the post-Muhammadan period, whereon alone I have any claim to speak with authority. Yet since every increase of knowledge makes one feel how much greater than one had supposed is the continuity of a nation's history and thought, and how much weaker are the dividing lines which once seemed so clear, I could not bring myself to mislead such as may read my book as to the true scope and unity of the
QO LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
subject by such artificial and unnatural circumscription. I began my Oriental studies with Turkish, and was soon driven to Persian, since from the Persians the Turks borrowed their culture and literary forms. Soon I found that without a knowledge of the Arabic language and literature and of the Arabian civilisation and culture one could never hope to be more than a smatterer in Persian. Still I thought of the Arab conquest of Persia and the conversion of the bulk of the Persians to the religion of Islam as a definite and satisfactory starting-point, as an event of such magnitude and of so revolutionary a character that it might fairly be regarded as creating practically a tabula rasa, from which all earlier writing had been expunged. But gradually it became apparent that this conception was very far from the truth ; that many phenomena of the complex 'Abbasid civilisation, of the early religious history of Islam, of the Book and Teaching of the Arabian Prophet himself, could only be understood in the light of earlier history.1 Inevitably one is carried back from Muhammadan to Sdsdnian times, from Sasdnian to Parthian, Achaemenian, Medic, Assyrian, primitive Aryan, and I know not what besides, until one is fain to exclaim with the Persian poet : —
Mard-i khiradmand-i-hunar-pisha-rd ' Umr du bdyast dar-in nizgdr, Td bi-yaki tajriba dmukhti, Dar digari tajriba burdi bi-kdr !
"The man of parts who after wisdom strives Should have on earth at least a brace of lives; In one experience he then might learn, And in the next that same to profit turn ! "
Therefore, unwilling on the one hand to speak much of matters wherein I have but little skill, and on the other to
1 On the influence of pre-Muhammadan systems, both political and religious, on the civilisation of al-Islam, von Kremer's writings are most suggestive, especially his little work entitled Streifzuge auf dem Gcbicte dc& Mams,
ACHAEMENIAN INSCRIPTIONS 91
produce what I should regard as an essentially defective and misleading book, false to my conception of what is meant by the Literary History of a people, and faulty not only in execution but in conception, I have decided to set forth briefly in this chapter the main facts about the Achaemenian Inscrip- tions, the Avesta, the Pahlawi monuments and literature, and the Zoroastrian religion, to know which is important even for those whose main interest lies in Modern Persian. Of the Sasdnian period, and therefore incidentally of Pahlawi, the official language of that time in Persia, I shall speak in greater detail in the next chapter, since in it lie the roots of so much that attracts- our attention in the early Muhammadan days, and the gulf which severs it from what precedes is so much harder to bridge satisfactorily than that which divides it from what follows. And since, for literary purposes, the legendary is nearly as important as the actual history of a people, I shall also discuss in this chapter the Persian Epos or National Legend, which, as will be seen, only approaches the real National History at the beginning of the Sasanian period. This chapter will therefore be divided into four sections, which may be briefly characterised as follows : (i) Achaemenian j (2) Avestic j (3) Pahlawi ; and (4) National Legend.
§ I. LITERARY REMNANTS OF THE ACH^MENIANS.
Our fullest knowledge of that first great Persian dynasty which began with Cyrus in B.C. 559, and ended with the defeat of the last Darius by Alexander, and his tragic death at the hands of his two treacherous satraps, Bessus and Barzaentes, in B.C. 330, is derived from Greek historians, notably Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon {Anabasis, Cyropeedia^ Agesilaus], while some sidelights may be derived from such works as the Tersa: of ./Eschylus. Of these external sources, however, which have been fully used by those who have written the history of the Achaemenians (such as Rawlinson, Spiegel, and Justi), I do
92 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
not propose to speak further, since they lie rather in the domain of the classical scholar than of the Orientalist. Raw- linson, however, in his admirable translation of Herodotus, points out how much the authority of that great historian is strengthened, not only by the Achaemenian inscriptions, but also by the true and convincing portraits of the national cha- racter which his work contains. But for him, indeed, the inscriptions, even if deciphered, must have remained obscure in many points which by his help are clear, as, for example, the words in 11. 8-1 1 of the first portion of Darius's great Behistun inscription : " Saith Darius the king : * Eight of my race who were aforetime were kings ; I am the ninth : we are kings by double descent " [or, " in a double line "]. In the light of the following genealogical tree deducible from Herodotus Tolymnia, vii, 10) the meaning of this becomes evident : —
(1) Achaemenes (Hakhdmanish)
(2) Teispes (Chdishpish)
(6) Ariaramnes (Ariydrdmna) (3) Cambyses (Kambujiya)
(7) Arsames (Arshdma) (4) Cyrus (Kurusli)
(8) Hystaspes (Vishtdspd) (5) Cambyses (Kambujiya)
(9) Darius (Ddrayavush) Xerxes (Khshaydrshd)
Ordinarily, of course, Cyrus (B.C. 559-529) is reckoned the first king of the line ; his son Cambyses (B.C. 529-522) the second, and Darius (B.C. 521-485) the third j but Darius himself counts his own ancestors up to Achasmenes, as well as the three kings (for he evidently includes Cambyses the father of Cyrus as well as Cambyses the son) of the collateral branch, and so the meanings of duvitdtaranam, "in a double line" (it was formerly translated " from a very ancient time "), and of Darius's " I am the ninth " become perfectly plain,
ACHMMENIAN INSCRIPTIONS 93
Any observant traveller who visits Persepolis and its sur- roundings will remark with some surprise that the inscriptions of the oldest period are the best preserved, while the most modern are the least legible. The Achaemenian cuneiform is so clear and sharp that we can hardly believe that nearly two thousand four hundred years have elapsed since the chisel which cut it rested from its labour. The Sdsdnian (Pahlawi) inscriptions, though younger by some seven hundred and fifty years, are blurred and faint in comparison ; while the quite recent inscriptions in Modern Persian are almost obliterated. This seems to me a type of the three epochs represented by them, and to be reflected in the literary style of their contents. The great Darius is content to call himself " the Great King, the King of kings, King in Persia, King of the provinces, the son of Vfshtdsp, the grandson of Arshama, the Achaemenian." Shdpiir the Sasdnian calls himself in the Pahlawi inscription at HajWbdd, " the Mazda-worshipping divine being Shahpuhar, King of kings of Iran and non-Irdn, of spiritual descent from God, son of the Mazda-worshipping divine being Artakhshatr, King of kings of Iran, of spiritual descent from God, grandson of the divine being Pdpak the King." As for the mass of empty, high-sounding titles with which the most petty Persian rulers of later Muhammadan times thought it necessary to bedeck their names, they are but too familiar to every Persian student, and I will not weary others by such vain repetitions.
I have said that we should rather speak of the Achaemenian inscriptions as historical than as literary monuments of the Old Persian language, yet there is in them a directness, a dignity, a simplicity and straightforwardness of diction, which entitle us to regard them as having a real literary style. The portion of Darius's great inscription from Behistun translated at pp. 31-32 supra, will serve as one specimen, and here is another, emanating from the same king, from Persepolis : —
" A great god is Ahuramazda, who hath created this earth, who hath created that heaven, who hath created man, who created the
94 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
gladness of man, who made Darius king, sole king of many, sole lawgiver of many.
" I am Darius, the great King, the King of kings, King of lands peopled by all races, for long King of this great earth, the son of Vishtasp, the Achaemenian, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan of Aryan descent.
" Saith Darius the King : By the grace of Ahuramazda, these are the lands of which I held possession beyond Persis, over which I held sway, which brought me tribute, which did that which was commanded them by me, and wherein my Law was maintained : Media, Susiana, Parthia, Haraiva [Herat], Bactria [Balkh], Sughd, Khwarazm [Khiva], Drangiana, Arachosia, Thatagush [the Sata- gydae], Gandara, India, the Haumavarka Sacse and Tigrakhuda Sacae, Babylon, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia, Sparda, the lonians, the Sacae across the sea, Skudra, the crown-wearing lonians,1 the Putiya, the Kushiya, the Machiya, the Karkas.
" Saith Darius the King : When Ahuramazda saw this earth . . ., then did He entrust it to me, He made me King, I am King, by the grace of Ahuramazda have I set it in right order, what I commanded them [i.e., men] that was carried out, as was my Will. If thou thinkest, ' How many were the lands which King Darius ruled ? ' then behold this picture : they bear my Throne, thereby thou may'st know them. Then shalt thou know that the spears of the men of Persia reach afar ; then shalt thou know that the Persian waged war far from Persia.
" Saith Darius the King : What I have done, that did I all by the grace of Ahuramazda : Ahuramazda vouchsafed me help till I com- pleted the work. May Ahuramazda protect me from . . ., and [likewise] my House and these lands ! For this do I pray Ahura- mazda : may Ahuramazda vouchsafe me this !
" O man ! This is Ahuramazda's command to thee : Think no evil ; abandon not the right path ; sin not ! "
One curious phenomenon presented by one of the latest Achaemenian inscriptions (that of Artaxerxes Ochus, B.C. 361-336) deserves a passing notice. Does some subtle connection exist between the decay of a language and the decay, or at least temporary subordination, of a race ? I have
1 This explanation is, I believe, now challenged. Professor Cowell used to teach that it referred to the Kpwj3v\os, a crown of hair, fastened by a golden grasshopper, which was worn by the Athenians till the time of Thucydides,
THE A VESTA 95
heard it said by English scholars that already before the Battle of Hastings the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, language had,
to a great extent, ceased to be written grammati-
Dfagnegu^e°"d°f C^Y) an^ tnat lt was m ^ decadence before the
Tascri'ptions?' Norman invasion. As regards the Old Persian
language, at least, this appears to be beyond doubt ; and in the inscription to which reference is made above we find such errors in declensions and cases as bum&m ("earth," ace. case) for bum'im ; asmanam ("heaven," ace. sing.) for asmanam; shayatam ("joy," ace. sing.) for shiydtim ; martihyd ("of men," gen. pi.) for martiyahya ; khshdyathiya ("king," nom. for ace. sing.), and the like. And concur- rently with this decay of language appear signs of a degenera- tion in creed ; Ahuramazda no longer stands alone, but is associated with other gods, Mithra (the Sun) and Anahita (Venus).
§ II. THE A VESTA.
We have already, in Chapter I, touched on some of the general questions connected with the origin, age, and home of the Avesta, and the language in which it is written — questions not admitting, unfortunately, of very precise or certain answers. Geldner's article on " Zoroaster " in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1888), and Dar- mesteter's French translation of the Avesta in the Annales du Musle Gutmet^ vols. xxi, xxii, xxiv (1892—3), may be taken as representing the two extreme views. According to the former, part of the Avesta at least (the Gvfe'^sr(i888)!er Gathas) represented the actual utterances of Zoroaster or his immediate disciples ; Bactria was the scene of his activity, and its language the vehicle of his teaching ; the King Vishtasp (Gushtasp, Hystaspes), whom he converted, and who became the zealous patron and protector of his creed, " has no place in any historical chrono- logy," " must have lived long before Cyrus," and " must be
96 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
carefully distinguished from Hystaspes the father of Darius ; " and the period at which he flourished may have been any- thing from B.C. 1000 (Duncker) to B.C. 1400 (Gutschmid). According to the latter, the Zoroastrian scriptures of Achae- menian times (if they ever existed) entirely
Darmesteter's • i_ j r A i j » • • i.
later views perished after Alexander s invasion ; the con- struction of the Avesta (of which we now possess a portion only) began in the first century of our era, in the reign of the Parthian Vologeses I (A.D. 51-78), was continued under the Sasanians until the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 309- 379), and, in its later portion, was largely influenced by the Gnosticism of the Alexandrian or Neo-Platonist philosophy ; Media was the home of the Zoroastrian doctrine, and the Medic language its vehicle or expression ; and the origin of the Zoroastrian creed goes back (as definitely stated in such Pahlawi books as the Arda Fir of N&mak and the Bundahish) only to a period of three centuries or less before Alexander's time, that is, to the sixth or seventh century before Christ, or, in other words, to a period slightly more remote than the beginning of the Achaemenian dynasty.
The views advanced by Darmesteter, though they have not commanded general assent, have nevertheless greatly modified those of the other school, notably of Geldner, GvJewe(ri8^6)er especially by causing them to pay much greater attention to the traditions embodied in the Pahlawi, Parsi, and early Muhammadan writings. Thus Geldner, in the interesting article on the Avesta contributed by him to Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss (1896), while with- holding his assent from some of Darmesteter's most revolu- tionary views as to the modern origin of the Avesta in the form known to us, attaches great importance to the Parsi tradition ; identifies Zoroaster's King Hystaspes with the historical father of Darius ; makes Zoroaster a contemporary of Cyrus the Great ; fixes, accordingly, the earliest limit or the Avesta as B.C. 560 ; admits the destruction of the original
THE A VEST A 97
Avesta during the period separating Alexander's invasion from the reign of Vologescs I, who first began its reconstruction, a work renewed with vigour by Ardashfr, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty ; and allows that additions may have con- tinued to be made to it till the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 309- 379). He still holds, however, that the Gathas are not only the oldest portion of the Avesta, but represent the actual teachings and utterances of Zoroaster, of whose real, historical character he remains firmly persuaded ; and adduces good historical evidence against Darmesteter's view that the Gathas are to be regarded as reflecting Alexandrian Gnosticism, or that the Vohu-mano (Bahman) which appears so frequently in them owes its origin to the Xoyo? 0aoe of Philo Judasus.
Since Anquetil's time it has been well known that the Avesta, as we now possess it, is only a fragment of the entire work which existed even in the Sasanian period ; ThA^unian w^ile this in turn was " not more than a single priest could easily carry in his head " out of the Avesta " written with gold ink on prepared ox-hides and stored up in Stakhar-Papakan," which was destroyed by " the accursed Alexander the Roman." Yet the Vendidad, which constitutes a considerable portion of the existing Avesta, makes a fair- sized volume, and it was but one of the twenty-one nosh into which the Sasanian Avesta was divided, and of which the contents are in some measure known to us from the Pahlawf Dinkard^ a very important work, dating, probably, from the ninth century of our era. These twenty-one nosks^ of which the Pahlawi names are known to us,1 were divided equally into three groups — the gdsanl^ (mainly theological and liturgical), the dc'itik (mainly legal), and the hdtak-mansarlk (philosophical and scientific). Of the seven nosks constituting the first group (intended principally for the priests) we still possess fragments of three — the Stot-yasht^ the Bako, and the Hdtokht ; of the second seven (intended for the laity) also three — the 1 See Geldner in the Grundriss, vol. ii, pp. 18, 20.
98 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
Vendidad) and parts of the Huspdram and Bakan-yasht ; while the third group, appealing to the more limited circle of learned and scientific men, has unfortunately (probably for that very reason) perished entirely. According to West's conjecture, these twenty-one nosks, which composed the Sasanian Avesta, contained in all about 347,000 words, of which we now possess only some 83,000, or about a quarter. Concerning the division above mentioned, Geldner remarks that it is " partly artificial, and is based on the attempt to establish a strict analogy between the whole Avesta and the Ahuna- Fairya verse, which is regarded as the quintessence and original foundation of the whole Avesta revelation." This remark suggests two interesting analogies with later times, and serves to illustrate what has been already said as to the remarkable persistence or recurrence of ideas in the East — a phenomenon of which I have elsewhere spoken in greater detail. The first of these is embodied in a Shi'ite tradition ascribed to 'AH, which runs as follows : —
"All that is tn the Qur'dn is in the Suratu'l-Fdtiha [the opening chapter], and all that is in the Suratu'l-Fdtiha is in the Bismilldh [the formula 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving,1 which stands at the head of every chapter except one of the Muhammadan Scripture, and which is used by Muhammadans when entering on any undertaking], and all that is in the Bismi'lldh ts in the B of the Bismi'lldh, and all that is in the B of the Bismi'lldh is in the point which is under the B, and I am the Point which is undct the B"
The second is the further expansion and application of this idea by the Bab, the founder of the last great religious move- ment in Persia, who was put to death in 1 850 at Tabriz ; for he declared 19 — the number of the letters in the Bismi'llah — to be the "Unity" (in Arabic JVahidy "One," in which, curiously enough, the numerical values of the component letters add up to 19) which was at once the intelligible Mani-
, THE AVESTA 99
festation of the Ineffable One and the proper numerical base of all computation, so that he made his books to consist of 19 "Unities," each containing 19 chapters, and the year to consist of 19 months of 19 days each (=361 days).
The existing Avesta, as already said, contains but one
complete nosk out of the twenty-one which it comprised in
Sasanian times, viz., the Vendidad ; while portions
DrescntnAvestae °^ at ^east ^our otners enter into the composition of the Yasna, and other fragments are preserved in some Pahlawi books, notably the Husparam in the Niran- gistan. The extant books and religious formulas of the Avesta are divided into five chief groups or sections, which are as follows : —
1. The Tasna^ or liturgical portion, consisting of hymns recited in honour of the different angels, spirits, and divine
beings. It comprises seventy-two chapters (called haiti or ha\ symbolised by the seventy-two strands which compose the kushti^ or sacred girdle, investiture with which constitutes the formal admission of the young Zoroastrian to the Zoroastrian Church. In it are included the ancient Gathas to which reference has already been made.
2. The Vuptrtd) comprising 23-27 chapters (called karde}y is not an independent, coherent, and self-contained book, but
a collection of formulae and doxoloeies similar
TheVispered. . b .
and supplementary to the Yasna, in conjunction with which it is used liturgically.
3. The Vendidady or " Law against the demons," is, in Geldner's words, " the Leviticus of the Parsis, the Eccle- siastical Law-book, which prescribes the priestly
The Veudidid. . ., . . }
purifications, expiations, and ecclesiastical pen- ances," and comprises twenty-two chapters (fargard}. Of these, the first, describing the successive creation by Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda) of the good lands, and the counter-creation by Ahriman (Ariro Mainyush) of a corresponding evil in each case, has been the chief basis of all discussion as to the
ioo LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
regions originally known to and inherited by the people of the A vesta.
4. The Tashts^ twenty-one in number (cf. p. 98, 1. 5 mpra\ are
hymns in honour of the various angels and spiritual beings, the
Amshaspands and Izads* one of whom presides
TheYashts. , . , . i r t i •
over, and gives his name to, each or the thirty days which constitute the Zoroastrian month. Originally, as the Parsis hold, each of these had his appropriate Yasht ; so that it would appear that nearly a third part of this portion of the Avesta has been lost. This mention of the Zoroastrian calendar reminds me of another illustration of Another iiiustra- t^iat resurgence of ancient religious beliefs and genets observances in the East of which I have gfousCdoctrines already spoken. The Zoroastrian year comprises
and observances J2 months of ^ days each) tQ which are a(]ded
5 extra days, called the gatMs. The year, in short, is a solar year, comprising, like our own, 365 days, with a suitable arrangement for further intercalation. The modern Babis, wholly Muhammadan in outward origin, and ultra-Shf'ite in their earlier stages of development, abandoned the Muham- madan lunar year (which falls short of the solar by about n days), and, taking as their numerical base their favourite number 19, substituted for it a solar year consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, making a total of 361 ( = 19 x 19) days, which were supplemented as required to maintain the correspondence between the calendar and the real season, by some or all of the five extra days which represented the numerical value of the Bab's title (B = 2, A = i, B = 2), and were, in the Babf phrase, fixed " according to the number of the Hd" t.e.y of the Arabic letter which stands for five. More than this, each day of the Babf month, and each month of the B&bi year, is consecrated to, and derives its name from, some attribute, aspect or function of the Deity, just as each day and each month of the Zoroastrian year stand in a similar relation to one of the angelic beings who constitute the Zoroastrian
THE AVESTA 101
spiritual hierarchy. The only difference between the two systems — the most ancient and the most modern which Persia has produced — lies in the substitution of attributes for Angels by the Babis, and further in the fact that to only twelve of the thirty Amshaspands and Izads who preside over the days of the month are allotted months also, while with the Babis the same nineteen names serve for both purposes. In both calendars the week plays no part ; in both it happens once in each month that the same name indicates both the month and the day ; and in both cases such days are observed as festivals. Yet it is most improbable that the Bab, who was a Sayyid, and, ere he announced his Divine mission (A.D. 1844), an ultra-zealous Shi'ite, holding all unbelievers as unclean and to be sedulously avoided (he enjoins in the Persian Bayfin the expulsion of all who refuse to accept his doctrine, save such as are engaged in avocations useful to the community, from the five principal provinces of Persia), had, or would have condescended to acquire, any direct knowledge of the Zoroastrian religion and practices ; and the same applies to the many striking analogies which his doctrine, and even phraseology, present with those of the Isma'Ilis and other older sects ; so that we are almost driven to regard a certain circle of religious and philosophical ideas as endemic in Persia, and liable at any moment, under a suitable stimulus, to become epidemic. To this point we shall have repeated occasion to recur later.
5. The Khorda Avesta, or " Little Avesta," is a kind of prayer-book or religious chrestomathy compiled for the use of
the laity in the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 310—379) ThA^t°ada by the priest, Adharpadh Mahraspand. It consists
partly of selections from the whole Avesta, partly of formulae written in Pazend (see pp. 81-2 supra] ; and comprises the five Nydyishes (prayers addressed to the Sun, the Moon, Mithra, the Genius of the Water, and the Bahram-Fire), the five Gdhs, the greater and lesser Slruza ("thirty days"), and the four Afr'ing&n^ or blessings.
102 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
Such, with the independent fragments preserved in Pahlawf
books like the Nirangistdn (chief amongst which are the
Aogemadaeca and H.adbkht-nosk\ is that remnant
Review of the ._ . . , . . ,
Avesta as a of the Zoroastnan scriptures which we now know
whole. _ . . i • t
as the Avesta. Intensely interesting though it be as an ancient document embodying the doctrines of so cele- brated a person as Zoroaster, and the tenets of an old-world faith which once played an important part in the world's history, and which, though numbering at the present day not ten thousand adherents in Persia, and not more than ninety thousand in India,1 has profoundly influenced other religions of intrinsically greater importance, the Avesta cannot be described as either pleasant or interesting reading. It is true that the interpretation of many passages is doubtful, and that better understanding might lead to higher appreciation of these ; but, speaking for myself, I can only say that while my appreciation of the Qur'an grows the more I study it and endeavour to grasp its spirit, the study of the Avesta, save for philological, mythological, or other comparative purposes, leads only to a growing weariness and satiety. The importance of its place in the history of religious thought, as well as its interest from an antiquarian and philological point of view, will ever attract to it a certain number of devoted students, apart from those who regard it as a Revelation and a Law from God ; but to me it is doubtful whether any translation of it could be made which the ordinary reader of average curiosity and intelligence would be willing to read through from cover to cover, save for some special purpose. At any rate the number of translations into English, French, and German is sufficiently large to enable any one who chooses to try the experiment for himself, and the citation of selected passages in this place appears quite superfluous.
1 See Mademoiselle D. Menant's Les Parsis (Paris, 1898), pp. 52-56.
PAHLAWt INSCRIPTIONS 103
§ III. THE PAHLAWI LITERATURE.
The earliest traces of the Pahlawi language (of which, as
already pointed out, the apparent mingling of Semitic and
Iranian words, brought about by the use of the
Pahlawi legends . ° J
on coins (B.C. Huzvarish system, is the essential feature) occur, as
300— A.D 695). .' rni-ox-
nrst pointed out by .Levy of Jtsreslau in IOO7,1 on sub-Parthian coins of the end of the fourth and beginning of the third century before Christ — in other words, soon after the end of the Achaemenian period ; and Pahlawi legends are borne by the later Parthian, all the Sasanian, and the early Muham- madan coins of Persia, including amongst the latter the coins struck by the independent Ispahbads of Tabaristan, as well as those of the earlier Arab governors. The Pahlawi coin-legends extend, therefore, from about B.C. 300 to A.D. 695, when the Umayyad Caliph 'Abdu'l-Malik abolished the Persian currency and introduced a coinage bearing Arabic legends.2
The Pahlawi inscriptions date from the beginning of Sasanian times, the two oldest being those of Ardashir and Shapur, the first and second kings of that illustrious house (A.D. 226-241 and 241-272) ; and they ex- tend down to the eleventh century, to which belong the inscriptions cut in the Kanheri Buddhist caves in Salsette near Bombay by certain Parsfs who visited them in A.D. 1009 and 1 02 r. Intermediate between these extremes are ten signatures of witnesses on a copper-plate grant to the Syrian Christians of the Malabar coast. The grant itself is engraved in old Tamil characters on five copper plates, and a sixth con- tains the names of the twenty-five witnesses attesting it, of which eleven are in Kufic Arabic, ten in Sasanian Pahlawi, and four in the Hebrew character and Persian language.3
1 Z.D.M.G., xxi, pp. 421-465.
* See the Arab historians — e.g., Dinawarl (ed. Guirgass, 1888), p. 322. » See Haug's Essay on Pahlawi, pp. 80-82 ; West's article on Pahlawi Literature in the Gntndriss, vol. ii, p. 79, and the references there given.
104 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
Of the age of the Pahlawi literature, properly so called, we
have already spoken (pp. 7-8 supra}. It was essentially the
Persian literature of the Sasanian period, but was
mature. naturally continued for some time after the fall of that dynasty. Thus the Gujastak dbalish ndmak, to which reference has already been made, narrates a discussion held between an orthodox Zoroastrian priest, Atur-farnbag son of Farrukh-zad, and a heretical dualist (perhaps a Mani- chaean) in the presence of the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun (A.D. 813-833), so that the period to which this literature belongs may be considered to extend from the third to the ninth or tenth centuries of our era, at which time the natural use of Pahlawi may be considered to have ceased, though at all times, even to the present day, learned Zoroastrians were to be found who could compose in Pahlawi. Such late, spurious Pahlawi, however, commonly betrays its artificial origin, notably by the confusing of the adjectival termination -Ik with the nominal or substantival termination -M, both of which are represented by -/ in Modern Persian.
Of actual written Pahlawi documents, the papyrus-fragments
from the Fayyum in Egypt, which West supposes to date from
the eighth century of our era, are the most ancient,
ma^frTp'ts. and after them there is nothing older than the
MS. of the Pahlawi Yasna known as " J. 2," which
was completed on January 25, A.D. 1323. Pahlawi manuscripts
naturally continue to be transcribed amongst the Parsis down
to the present day, though since the introduction of Pahlawi
type, and the gradual publication by printing or lithography
of the more important books, the function of the scribe, here as
in the case of other Eastern languages, has in large measure
fallen into abeyance.
The Pahlawi literature is divided by West, who is certainly Extent and *^e greatest living authority on it, and who is in [he'paMa^i t^1*s Porti°n °f our subject our chief guide, into
literature. three classes, as follows : —
PAHLA Wt L1TERA TURE 16$
1. Pahlawi translations of Avesta texts, represented by twenty- seven works, or fragments of works, estimated to contain in all about 141,000 words.1 Valuable as these are for the exegesis ot the Avesta, they "cannot be really considered," in West's words, " as a sample of Pahlawi literature, because the Pa>si translators have been fettered by the Avesta arrangement of the words."
2. Pahlawl texts on religious subjects, represented by fifty-five works, estimated to contain about 446,000 words. This class contains, besides commentaries, prayers, traditions (riwdyats), admonitions, injunctions, pious sayings, and the like, several important and interesting works, amongst which the following deserve particular mention. The Dinkart
("Acts of Religion"), "a large collection of information regarding the doctrines, customs, traditions, history and literature of the Mazda- worshipping religion," of which the compilation was begun in the ninth century of our era by the same Atur-farnbag who appears before al-Ma'mun as the champion of orthodox Zoroastrianism against " the accursed Abalish," and concluded towards the end of the same century.2 The Bundahishn (" The Ground-giving "), an extensive manual of
The Bundahishn !•• i 11 •• • i /• n
(nth century), religious knowledge,3 comprising, in the fuller
recession known as the " Iranian," forty-six
chapters, which appears to have been finally concluded in the
eleventh or twelfth century of our era, though the bulk of it
is probably a good deal earlier. The Datistan-i-Dlnlk, or
" Religious Opinions " of Manushchihar. son ot
The Datist.in-i- . .
Dinik (oth Yiidan-Yim. high-priest of Pars and Kirman in
century). ° , r .
the latter part of the ninth century, on ninety-two
1 The full enumeration of these and the following will be found in West's article in the Grundriss already referred to.
• A very full analysis of its contents is given by West, op. cit., pp. 91-98.
' For translation see West's Pahlawi texts in vol. v of the Sacred Books of the East, pp. 1-151 (Oxford, 1880). For analysis of contents see West's article in the Grundriss, pp. 100-102.
to6 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
topics, characterised by West as "one of the most difficult Pahlawi texts in existence, both to understand and to translate." The Shikand-gumdnlk Vijar'1- (" Doubt-dispelling Explana- tion "), a controversial religious work, composed towards the
end of the ninth century, in defence of the Zoro- "urni'nfifvijar astrian dualism against the Jewish, Christian,
Manichaean, and Muhammadan theories of the nature and origin of evil ; and described by West as " the nearest approach to a philosophical treatise that remains extant
in Pahlawi literature." The Dina-i-Mainyo [or MK&'" Mainbg} -i-Khirad (" Opinions of the Spirit of
Wisdom ") contains the answers of this spirit to sixty-two inquiries on matters connected with the Zoroastrian faith. The publication of the Pahlawi text by Andreas (Kiel, 1882), and of the Pazend text with Neriosengh's Sanskrit translation by West (Stuttgart, 1871), who has also published English translations of both texts (1871 and 1885), render it one of the most accessible of Pahlawi works, and as pointed out by Noldeke in his translation of the Kdrndmak-i-drtakhshatr-i- dn^ one of the best books for beginning the study ot
book- Pahlawi. The Arda-Vlr&f Ndmak is another
Ver7 well-known work, accessible in the original
(Bombay, 1872) and in English and French translations, and may be briefly described as a prose Zoroas- trian Paradiso and Inferno. It is interesting for the picture it gives of the religious and material anarchy in Persia pro- duced by the invasion of "the accursed Alexander the Roman," of the Sdsanian national and religious revival in the third century of our era, and of the Zoroastrian ideas of the future life. In the latter we can hardly fail to be struck by the analogy between the Chinvat Bridge and the Muhammadan
1 Translated by West in vol. xxiv of the Sacred Books of the East series (Oxford, 1885), pp. 115-251 ; and published in Pazend by the same scholar in conjunction with the Pars! Hoshang in 1887.
PAH LA Wt LITER A TURE 107
Bridge of $irat, " finer than a hair and sharper than a sword," to which Byron alludes in the well-known lines —
" By Allah, I would answer ' Nay ! ' Though on al-Sirat's bridge I stood, Which totters o'er the burning flood, With Paradise within my view, And all its houris beckoning through."
And these houris also seem to find their more spiritual proto- type in the fair maiden who meets the departed soul of the righteous man, and who, on being questioned, declares herself to be the embodiment of the good deeds, the good words, and the good thoughts which have proceeded from
Hupstak him during his life. The " Book of the accursed
Abalish. ° . J
Abalish" already mentioned more than once, was published by Barthelemy in 1887, with the Pazend and Parsf- Persian versions and a French translation. The yamfap-n&mak, known in its entirety only in Pazend and Persian versions, contains some interesting mythological and legendary matter
about the ancient mythical kings of the Persian Khusraw-i- Epos. The Andaraz-i-Khusraw-i-Kawtithn* or
Kavatan. . . . „
dying injunctions or King INushirwan (Anoshak- ruban, A.D. 531-578) to his people, though of very small extent, deserves mention because it has been taken by Salemann in his Mittelpersische Stttdlen (Melanges Asiatiques, ix, pp. 242-253, St. Petersburg, 1887) as the basis of a very interesting and luminous study of the exact fashion in which a Pahlawitext would probably have sounded when read aloud ; an ingenious attempt at a critical Pazend transcription.
3. Pahlawl texts on non-religious subjects, represented by only eleven works, comprising in all about 41,000 words. This class of Pahlawi literature is at once the most pahUwTwOTks! interesting and the least extensive. A large non- theological literature no doubt existed in Sasanian times, and many works of this class no longer extant (notably the Khudhtiy-n&mak) or " Book of Kings," which will be dis-
io8 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
cussed in the next section) are known to us by name, and to some extent in substance, through the early Arabic and Muhammadan Persian writers. The same cause which led to the loss of the scientific and philosophical nosh of the A vesta (the hdtak mdnsarik : see p. 97 supra), namely, the comparative indifference of the Zoroastrian priests, who were practically the sole guardians of the old literature after the fall of the Sasdnian Empire, to all books which did not bear im- mediately on their own interests, led, no doubt, to the loss of the greater part of the profane literature of the Sasanian period. The works of this class now extant are so few that they may be enumerated in full. They comprise : ( I ) The Social Code of the Zoroastrians in Sasanian Times. (2) The Tdtkdr-i-Zarlrdn (also called the Shdhndma-i-Gushtdsp and the Pahlawl Shdhndma], translated into German by Geiger in the Sitzungsberichte d. phll. und hist. Classe d. Kals. bayer. Akad. d. Wissenschaften for 1890, ii, pp. 243-84, and further dis- cussed by Noldeke two years later in the same periodical.1 (3) The Tale of Khusraw-i-Kawdtdn (Nushlrwdn) and his Page. (4) The extremely interesting Kdrndmak-i-Artakh- shatr-i-Pdpakdn, or " Gests of Ardashir Babakan," the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, of which the Pahlawi text 2 (which appears, however, to be edited with little criticism) was pub- lished at Bombay in 1896 by Kayqubad Adharbad Dastur Nushirwan, while an excellent German translation, with critical notes and a most luminous Introduction, by Professor Noldeke of Strassburg, appeared at Gottingen in 1878. Of this book I shall have occasion to speak much more fully in connection with the Shdh-ndma^ or " Book of Kings." It and the two preceding ones may be classed together as the sole survivors of the " historical novel " of Sasanian times ;
1 This work is placed by Noldeke about the year A.D. 500, and is described by him as " vvohl die alteste eigentliche Heldensage, die uns in iranischer Sprache erhalten ist."
' The date of its composition is placed by Noldeke about A.D. 600.
PAHLAWt LITERATURE 109
though the contents or titles of others are known to us through Arabic writers (such as Mas'udi, Dinawan, and the author of the invaluable Flhrht\ while the substance of one, the Book of the Gests and Adventures of Bahrdm Chubin, has been in part reconstructed by Professor Noldeke ( Geschlchte der . . . Sasaniden^ Leyden, 1879, pp. 474-487). The remaining books of this class (mostly of small extent) are : (5) The Cities of Iran; (6) the Wonders of Sagistdn ; (7) the Dirakht-i- dsurlg, or " Tree of Assyria " ; ( 8 ) the Chatrang-ndmak, or "Book of Chess" ; (9) Forms of Epistles ; (10) Form of Mar- riage Contract, dated to correspond with November 16, A.D. 1278 ; and (n) the well-known Farhang-i-Pahlawiky or "Old Pahlawi-Pazend Glossary," published at Bombay and London by Hoshang and Haug in 1870.
Besides the Palilawi literature, there also exists a modern
Persian Zoroastrian literature, of which the most important
works are: the Zartushtndma ("Book of Zoro-
Persian . .
Zoroastrian aster ) m verse, composed at Ray in Persia in
literature. • J
the thirteenth century ; the Sad-dar (" Hundred Chapters "), a sort of epitome of the Zoroastrian faith in three recensions (one prose, two verse), of which the first is the oldest; the 'Ulamd-i-Isldm ("Doctors of Islam ") ; the RiwdyatSy or collections of religious traditions ; the ^Jssa- i-Sanjdn^ or narrative of the Zoroastrian exodus to India after the Muhammadan conquest of Persia ; and several Persian versions of Pahlawi texts. These are discussed by West in an Appendix to his article in the Grundriss (pp. 122-129). I know of no literary activity amongst the Persian Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kirman in recent times, and though amongst themselves they continue to speak the peculiar Gabri dialect already mentioned, their speech in mixed society scarcely
differs from that of their Muhammadan fellow
Existence of . . . . . . . . . ,
vermin citizens, and their letters are entirely copied from
Sasanian times. . J
the ordinary models. The question of the existence of poetry in Sasdnian times
has been already discussed at pp. 14-16 supra. If it ever existed, no remnants of it, so far as is known, have survived till the present day.
As has been already pointed out, the substance of a certain number of Pahlawi works which have perished is preserved to some extent by some Muhammadan writers, especially the earlier Arabic historians (that is, Arabic- writing, for most of them were Persians by race), such as Tabari, Mas'udi, Dinawari, and the like, who drew for the most part their materials from Arabic translations of Pahlawi books made by such men as Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', who were well acquainted with both languages. Of such translations a con- siderable number are enumerated in the Fihrist, but Ibnu'l- MuqanV's rendering of Kalila and Dimna (brought from India in the time of Nushirwan " the Just," together with the game of Chess, and translated for him into Pahlawi) is almost the only one which has survived in its entirety. Amongst the early Arabic writers, the best informed on Persian topics include, besides Tabari (t A.D. 923), al-Jahidh (t A.D. 869), al-Kisrawi (t A.D. 870), Ibn Qutayba (t A.D. 889), al-Ya'qubi (t A.D. 900), Dinawari (t A.D. 895), Mas'udi (flourished in the middle of the tenth century), especially his Murliju dh-dhahab and Kitabu't-tanblh wa'l-ishraf^ Hamza of.JsfaMn^A^p^j^i), al-Biruni (end of tenth and eaHy"eleventh century), al-Baladhuri (t A.D. 892), the author of the Fihristy Muhammad b. Ishaq (end of tenth century), and others. Amongst Persian works, Bal'ami's translation of Tabari's history (A.D. 963), the anonymous Mujmalut-Tawdr!khyzn& Firda'wsi's great epic, the Shahndma, of which we shall speak immediately, are perhaps the most important from this point of view.
§ IV. THE PERSIAN NATIONAL EPIC. Hitherto we have spoken chiefly of the real history of Ancient Persia, as derived from the oldest and most credible
THE PERSIAN EPIC in
sources — inscriptions, coins, and the writers of antiquity. It is now necessary that we should briefly examine the ideas that the Persians themselves entertain as to the dynasties and kings who ruled over them in days of old — in other words, the National Legend, which only begins to run parallel with actual history at the beginning of the Sasanian period. This National Legend finds its ^ultimate development in the cele- brated epic of the Shahnama^ or " Book of Kings," an immense poem, generally computed at about 60,000 couplets, composed by Firdawsi for Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, and completed, after some forty years of labour, in the year A.D. 1010. As a literary work this great epic will be more properly discussed in a later chapter, but, since it remains till the present day the chief source whence the Persians derive their ideas as to the ancient history of their nation, it will be proper to discuss briefly in this chapter both the nature and antiquity of its contents. This matter has been treated in a most exhaustive and scholarly manner by Professor Noldeke of Strassburg in his article entitled Das Iranische Nationalepos^ contributed to vol. ii of Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss, and also published in separate form (Triibner, Strassburg, 1896). Of this excellent work, which probably represents the limit of knowledge attainable in this direction, the freest use is made in the brief account here given of the history of this National Legend or Saga.
The Shdhndma recognises four dynasties of pre-Muham- \'. madan Persian kings — the Pishdddl, the Kaydnl^ tjhe Ashkani
(or Parthian, also called in Arabic Mulukut- / ^sh!hnV™he Tawaif,or "Tribal Kings"), and the sisdnl.*
Of these, the two first are entirely unhistorical, belonging, as we have already said, to the mythology of the Avesta and the common Indo-Iranian legend j the third is historical in a sense, but nothing is remembered of it save a few names, mentioned without much order or method, and the fact that it filled the gap between Alexander the Great and
ii2 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
Ardashfr the first Sasanian ; the fourth is wholly historical in the sense that the kings composing it are historical personages arranged in correct order, though" naturally their deeds and adventures contain much legendary matter, especially in the earlier portion.
The first king of the legendary Pishdadi dynasty, called Gayumarth) is the first man of the Avesta, Gayo Mareta^ the
Zoroastrian Adam. He dwells in the mountains, dynasty' dresses himself and his people in leopard-skins,
brings the beasts of the field into subjugation, wages a war on the demons, in which his son Siy&mak is killed, and, after a reign of thirty years, dies, and is succeeded by his grandson Hushang (Arabic Ushhanj. Hushang reigns forty years, accidentally discovers how to produce fire by flint and steel, and establishes the Festival or Sadah to commemorate this great discovery. He is succeeded by his son Takmurath, called Div-band, "the Binder of Demons," since he brought these beings into subjection, but spared their lives on condition that they should teach him the art of writing " not one but nearly 30 languages."1 After reigning thirty years he is succeeded by his son yamshld, a much more important figure in the Persian Legend than any of his predecessors.
The early Arab (/.*., Arabic-writing) historians, who for thr most part endeavour to combine the Iranian with Semitic anc
Biblical legends, commonly identify Jamshid with
Solomon. Practically speaking nearly all the Achaemenian monuments about Persepolis are referred by
^***^^*— ^"*^ ^^^^^*>^MWM^Mn«M^'BaHMM^*AM^^^^^flHHMfrt^«^^i^M^^*IHM^M>^BM^1^*
•the Persians to "these kings, and apparentlyfor no better reason . -than the following : " These gigantic buildings," they say, '"are evidently beyond the power of the unaided humanity of '( that age ; therefore whoever built them was helped by the j demons. But it is a well-known fact that only two kings had ! command over the demons, namely Solomon and Jamshid j 1 See Macau's ed. of the Shdhndma, p. 18.
DOCTOR
THE PERSfAMBfcWEN MIN4SJAN,
therefore Solomon and Jamshid built these monuments." Accordingly they call Persepolis Takht-t-yamshld^ " the Throne of Jamshid " ; the Tomb of Cyrus, Masjid-i-Madar- i-Sulaymdny " the Mosque of Solomon's Mother " ; and another platform-like structure on a hill adjacent to the monuments in the Murghab plain Takht-i-SulaymAn "the Throne of Solomon." Such identifications were favoured by the Zoroastrians in Muhammadan times as tending to improve their position with their conquerors, and secure for them the privileges accorded by victorious Islam to " the people of the Book" — that is, peoples like the Jews and Christians who, though not believers in the Qur'an, possessed Scriptures recognised by Muhammad. The most notable of these false identifications is that of Zoroaster with Abraham, and of the Avesta with the Suhuf (" Leaflets " or " Tracts ") supposed by the Muhammadans to have been revealed to him, and recognised by them as one of the five revelations made to the five great Prophets, the other four being the Pentateuch ( Tawrdt) of Moses, the Psalms (Zubur or Mazdmlr] of David, the Gospel (/«///) of Jesus Christ, and the Qur'&n of Muhammad. But of course well-informed writers like Ibnu'l-MuqafiV knew that these identifications were wrong, just as well as we now know that Sir William Jones's identi- fications of Kay-Khusraw and Shiruye with Cyrus and Xerxes are wrong. Thus Ibnu'l-Muqaffa4 (quoted by Dinawan, ed. Guirgass, p. 9) says : " Ignorant Persians, and such as have no science, suppose that King Jam was Solomon the son of David, but this is an error, for between Solomon and Jam was an interval of more than 3,000 years." It is now well known that Jam (the termination — shldy frequently dropped, is a mere epithet or title, as it is in Khurshid, " the Sun," representing the Avestic Khshaeta^ " chief, sovereign, brilliant ") is identical with the Tama of the Hindu and the Tima of the Avestic mythology, though this hero of the Indo-Iranian legend appears under rather different aspects in the three cases. With
9
ii4 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
the Hindus, he is the first great mortal to pass over into the After-world, and hence appears as a kind of Pluto, or King of Hades. In the Avesta he is " the fair Yima of goodly flocks," the son of Vivahhao (a name which, though absent from the Shdhndftia, occurs in early Muhammadan historians like Dinawari and Tabari as Vlvanjhdn^ described as son of Iran or Arfakhshad, son of Sam or Shem, son of Noah), who is invited, but declines, to be the bearer of Ahura Mazda's message to mankind, and who is commissioned to build "the four-cornered Varena " for the protection of his people from the plague ot cold created by Arira Mainyush (Ahriman), the Evil Spirit. In the Shdhndma he appears as a great king, who reigns for 700 years, not only over men, but over demons, birds, and fairies ; invents weapons of war and the textile art ; teaches men the use of animals ; institutes the priestly, military, agricultural, and artisan classes ; compels the demons to practise architecture ; introduces the use of precious stones and metals, perfumes, and medicines ; builds ships ; causes himself to be transported (like Solomon in the Muhammadan legend) on an aerial throne whithersoever he will ; and establishes the great national festival of the Nawruz, or New Year's Day, at the vernal equinox, when the Sun enters the sign of Aries. Thereupon his luck turns, for he becomes so inflated with pride as to claim divine honours, whereon he is overthrown and ultimately slain by the usurper Dahd^.
This Dahdk represents the snake Azlu Dahc.ka (later Azhdahak, AzhdaM, " a dragon ") of the Avesta ; and, with
the two snakes growing from his shoulders wiiich AzlDahdkk°r require a daily meal of human brains, stands for
the three-headed dragon of other Aryan mytho- logies. By Firdawsi (in whose time the memory of the Arab Conquest was still alive, and race hatred still ran high) he is metamorphosed into an Arab, and his name is consequently given an Arab form, DahhAk (with the hard Arabic d and h]\ he appears as a parricide, tyrant, and chosen instrument of the
THE PERSIAN EPIC its
Devil, who beguiles him from the primitive and innocent vegetarianism supposed to have hitherto prevailed into the eating of animal food and ultimate cannibalism. His demand for fresh victims to feed his snakes ultimately, after he has reigned nearly a thousand years, drives his wretched subjects into revolt, to which they are chiefly incited by the blacksmith Kawa, whose leathern apron, by a patriotic apotheosis, becomes the standard of national liberty. The young Feridun (Avestic Thraetaona^ Indian Thraitana\ son or Abtln^ a descendant of Tahmurath and "of the seed of the Kayan," is brought forth from his hiding-place and hailed as king. He defeats Dahak, and chains him alive, Prometheus- like, in a cave at the summit of Mount Damawand (or Dunbd- wand), the great conical peak of which is so clearly visible to the north-east of Tihran, after which, amidst general rejoicings, he becomes king, and rules with great justice and splendour for five hundred years, so that of him it is said —
Faridun-i-famikh farishla na-bnd: Zi mushk u zi ' anbai sarishta na-bud. Bi-ddd u dahish ydft dn niku'i : Tit dad u dahish kun : Faridun tii'i !
" Feridun the fortunate was not an angel : He was not compounded of musk and of ambergris. By justice and bounty he attained such excellence : Be thou just and bountiful, and thou shalt be a Feridun !"
Yet for all this he was not exempt from bitter trouble in his own house. Having given his three sons in marriage to the
three daughters of Sarv (or Surv, according to al- Fendwnns.lhrec Bundari's Arabic prose translation of the Shdhnamay
made about A.D. I223),1 ne divided between them his vast dominions, giving to Iraj, the youngest, the land of Iran (Eran-shahr). His other two sons, Salm and Tir,
1 Cambridge MS. QQ. 46, a fine old fourteenth century MS. of this im- portant compilation, concerning which see Noldeke's Das Iranischc NatioHalepos, p. 77 and n. 2.
ii6 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
regarding this as the choicest portion of the heritage, were filled with envy, and eventually, by a dastardly stratagem, succeeded in compassing the death of their younger brother. His body is brought to Feridun, who bitterly laments his death, and swears vengeance on Tur and Salm.
Some time after the murder of Iraj, his wife Mah-Afarld
bears a son, named Maniichihr^ who, on reaching mature age,
attacks and kills his wicked uncles, and sends
their heads to Ferfdiin. Soon after this, Feridun
abdicates in favour of Manuchihr, and shortly afterwards
dies.
The three sons of Feridun may be roughly described as the Shem, Ham, and Japhet of the Iranian legend ; and from this fratricidal strife date the wars between the sons of Tur (the Turanians or Turks), long led by the redoubtable Afrdsiydbt and those of Iraj (the Iranians) — wars which fill so great a part not only of the legen- dary, but of the actual history of Persia. At this point the National Epic begins to be enriched by a series The sistan of episodes whereof the Avesta shows no trace,
legend.
and which are connected with a series of heroes belonging to a noble family of Sistan and Zabulistan, viz., Nariman, Sam, Zal, Rustam, and Suhrab. Of these Rustam is by far the most important. For centuries he plays the part of a deus ex machind in extricating the Persian Kayani monarchs — especially Kay Qubad, Kay Ka'us, and Kay Khusraw — from their difficulties and dangers, while, with his good horse Rafysh, he plays the chief part in a series of heroic adventures in combats with men and demons. His death is only compassed at last by a treache- rous stratagem of his brother, after he has slain hfandiyar (Isfandiyddh, Spandeddt\ the son of Gushtdsp (Vlshtaspa\ the champion of Zoroaster. Spiege* supposes * that Rustam's name was deliberately suppressed in 1 Arische Studten, p. 126.
THE PERSIAN EPIC 117
the Avesta as an adversary or "the good Religion,*' but Noldeke * thinks this improbable, and inclines rather to the view that the Sistan legend to which he and his ancestors belong was almost or quite unknown to the authors of the Avesta. At any rate Rustam's name has only been found in one or two places in late Pahlawi writings, though his doughty deeds were known to the Armenian Moses of Khorene in the seventh or eighth century, and the stall of his horse Rakhsh was shown about the same period to the Arab invaders of Sistan.2 Moreover, the Persian general who was defeated and slain by the Arabs in the fatal battle of Qadisiyya (A.D. 635) was a namesake of the great legendary hero.
The death of Rustam brings us nearly to the end of the
Kaydni, or purely mythical period of the Epic. Isfandiyar,
the son of Gushtasp, leaves a son named Bahman
End of the purely .„.„, „. , . , . ir . T
mythical part of ( Uohumano), who succeeds his grandfather. In the later construction of the Epic this Bahman
was identified with Artaxerxes (drtafyshatr, 4rdashir)L>ong\- manus (MaKpovftp, Dirdz-dast\$ who was known
Bahman Arta- . ,v r *• ~ . , " . , . . ,
xerxcs Long;- through some bynac writer drawing his material
manus. _ —, . _. , . . ,
from Greek sources. Bahman, according to the practice of the Magians, married his sister Khum&ni (Humdy\
who bore him a posthumous son named Dara.
Her brother Sasan, who had looked forward to inheriting the crown, was so overcome with disappointment
at seeing; his sister made Queen-Regent that he
Dari. ~ °
retired to the mountains amongst the Kurds and
became a shepherd.4 From him, as the Persians believe,
descend the Sasanian kings, who are uniformly
Sasan. . , . i • • ,
regarded as the legitimate successors or the Kayanfs, and the restorers of their glory. Their founder, Ardathir IZAba^an (Artakhshatr son of Papak), is represented
1 Das Iramschc Nation alepos, p. 9.
• Ibid., p. n and n. 2 ad calc. 3 Ibid., p. 12, and n. 3 ad. calc, « Dinawari, p. 29.
ii8 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
as the great-great-great-grandson ot Sasan the son of Bahman the son of Zoroaster's patron Gushtasp. By thus represent-
ing their pedigree, the Sasan ians strove to establish Ijiblnkfn kfngs.6 t^ie'r position as the legitimate rulers of Persia,
and " defenders of the faith " of Zoroaster — a character which, with few exceptions, they strenuously exerted themselves to maintain.
We have seen that the Parthians crfsh^aniydn, Mulufyft- Tawaif] occupy hardly any place in the Epic, and it might
therefore be supposed that we should find therein The Alexander- an almost direct transition from the second Dara
legend.
(son of him mentioned above) to the Sasanians. At this point, however, an entirely foreign element is intro- duced, namely, the Alexander-romance, which, reposing ultimately on the lost Greek text of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, is preserved in Syriac, Egyptian, Abyssinian I and Arabic, as well as Modern Persian, versions. The fate of Alexander in
Persian legend is curious. In the genuine Zoro-
Alexander in the . f . . _ „
zoroastrian astnan tradition (as, for example, in the rahlawi Arda 1)lraf Ndmafyy2 he appears as "the accursed
Alexander the Roman," who, urged on by the evil spirit, brought havoc, destruction, and slaughter into Persia, burned Persepolis and the Zoroastrian Scriptures (which, written with
gold ink on 12,000 3 prepared ox-skins, were Aleshnhnimathe stored up in the Archives at Stakhar Papakan),
and finally " self-destroyed fled to hell." Later, the picturesque contents of the romance of the Pseudo- Callisthenes, and a desire to salve the national vanity com- parable to that which tempted the authors of former English histories to treat William the Conqueror as an English king, led the Persians, including Firdawsi, to incorporate Alexander in the roll of their own monarchs, a feat which they achieved
1 See Budge's Book of Alexander. 3 Ed. Haug and West, pp. 4 and 141 3 Mas'iidi's Kitdbu't-Tanbih, p. 91.
THE PERSIAN EPIC
as follows. The first Dara demanded in marriage the daughter of Philip of Macedon, but afterwards, being displeased with her, divorced her and sent her back to her father. On her return she gave birth to Alexander, who was in reality her son by Dara, though Philip, anxious to conceal the slight put upon his daughter by the Persian King, gave out that the boy v/as his own son by one of his wives. Hence Alexander, in wresting Persia from his younger half-brother, the second Dara, did but seize th.it to which, as elder son of the late King, he was entitled, and is thus made to close the glorious period of the ancient Pishdadf and Kayaiu kings. In the third version, represented by the Sif(andar-n&ma of Alexander in the N/W/mW (twelfth century), he is identified with a
Sih.iiu.ar-iiama. •— • » ft*
mysterious personage called Dhu'l-^arnayn (" The two-horned ") mentioned in the Qur'an as a contemporary of Moses (with whom some suppose him to be identical), and, instructed by his wise and God-fearing tutor Aristotle (Arhtii, AristAtalis}, represents the ideal monotheistic king, bent on the destruction of the false creed of the heathen Persians. It is important to bear in mind these different conceptions of Alexander, and also the fact that he does not really survive in the genuine national remembrance, but has been introduced, together with Darius, from a foreign source, while the national memory goes no further back than the Sasanians.
Concerning the Parthian period we must notice, besides its very scanty and unsympathetic treatment, the curious fact that
whereas five centuries and a half actually elapsed
Parthian period. '
between the death of Alexander and the establish- ment of the Sasanian dynasty, this period is habitually reduced by the Persian and Arab historians to 266 years. The falsity, as well as the reason, of this arbitrary and misleading chro- nology is understood and explained by the learned Ma^udl in his -t-tanblh wa'l-ishrdf1 as follows. When Ardashir
1 See the excellent edition published by de Goeje in his Bibliotheca Gcografhorum Arabiccntm (vol. viii, pp. 97-9, Leyden, 1893),
120 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
Babakan established the Sasanian dynasty in A.D. 226 — that is, about 550 years after Alexander — a prophecy was generally current in Persia that a thousand years after Zoroaster the faith founded by him and the Persian Empire would fall together. Now Zoroaster is placed 280 or 300 years before Alexander : hence, of the thousand years about 850 has already elapsed. Ardashir, fearing, apparently, that the prophecy might work its own fulfilment (for obviously he cannot have had any great belief in it if he hoped to cheat it of its effect by such means), and wishing to give his dynasty a longer respite, deliberately excised some three centuries from this period, thus making it appear that only 566 years out of the thousand had elapsed, and that his house might therefore hope to continue some 434 years ; which, in fact, it did, for Yazdigird III, the last Sasanian king, was murdered in A.D. 651-2. This extraordinary falsification of history is described by Mas'udi as an " ecclesiastical and political secret '* of the Persians, and the fact that it was possible shows how entirely the archives and the art of reading and writing were in the hands of the ministers of Church and State.
With the Sasanian period, as already remarked, the National Legend, though still freely adorned with romantic and fictitious incidents, enters on the domain of real history, and becomes steadily more historical as it proceeds. As the Sasanian period will be discussed in the next chapter, it is unnecessary to enlarge further upon it in this place, and we shall accordingly pass at once to the history and antiquity of the Epic.
The references in the Avesta to Shdhnama heroes are
sufficient to show that even at the time when the former work
was composed the National Legend already existed
History and anti- . . «W«\ • ,
quityofthe m its essential outlines. This, however, is by no
National Legend " . XT-I i T
means the only proof of its antiquity, for Noldeke has shown the occurrence of epic features in the accounts of the ancient Persian kings given by Greek writers, notably Ctesias, who was court-physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon,
THE PERSIAN EPIC 121
and professedly compiled his work from Persian written sources. These epic features are, moreover, recurrent, and are transferred from one king and even dynasty to another; so that, for example, a strong resemblance exists between the circumstances surrounding the youth and early adventures of Cyrus the first Achaemenian in his struggle against the Medes, and Ardashir the first Sasanian in his war with the Parthians ; while the appearance of the Eagle, Simurgh or Huma (in each case a mighty and royal bird) as the protector of Achaemenes, Zal and Ardashir ; the similar role played by two members of the noble Qaren family in the rescue of Nudhar the Kayanian and Piruz the Sasanian from Turanian foes ; and the parallels offered by the Darius- Zopyrus and the Piruz-Akhshunwar episodes, are equally remarkable.
The story of Zariadres, brother of Hystaspes, and the
Princess Odatis is preserved to us by Athenaeus from the
history of Alexander composed by his chamber-
Thlarin!tnr"1" kin Charas of Mitylene, and the same episode
forms the subject of the oldest Pahlawi romance,
the J"dttar-i-Zariran (see p. 1 08 supra)) written about A.D. 500.
This important little book, the oldest truly epic fragment in
Persian speech, though treating only of one episode of the
National Legend, assumes throughout a certain acquaintance
with the whole epic cycle.
" We have here," says Noldeke, " unless we are wholly deceived, the phenomenon which shows itself in connection with the epic history of divers other peoples : the substance is generally known ; individual portions therefrom are artistically elaborated ; and out of such materials, by adaptations, omissions, and remodellings, a more or less coherent and comprehensive epic may arise. The essential feature?, of the Legend of Zarir reappear in the short Arabic version of Tabari, which entirely agrees, in part almost word for word, with the corresponding portion of the Shahndma ; whence it must have been taken from the ancient general tradition which forms the of the great Epic,"
122 LITERATURES OF ANCIENT PERSIA
The " remodellings " to which Noldeke alludes consist chiefly, as he points out, of modifications designed to facilitate the artistic combination and fusion of the different episodes in one epic, and the suppression, in the case of Firdawsi's and other later versions, of such features or phrases as might be offensive to Muhammadan readers.
Of the Sasanian portion of the Epic we still possess one Pahlawi element in the J^arnama^-i-t^rta^/ishatr-i-Papa^an^ now accessible, both in the original and in a German trans- lation (see p. 1 08 supra}. A comparison of this with the corresponding portion of the Shdhnama (such as will be made for a portion of this episode in the next chapter) cannot fail to raise greatly our opinion of Firdawsi's fidelity to the sources on which he drew, for the correspondence is continuous and remarkable. This f^arnama^ was probably composed about A.D. 600, and the reference of Agathias (A.D. 580) to written Persian chronicles of the Kings (j3ao-tAe;ot cupOtpai, irtpmKol /3f'/3Xot, jSautXt/co airofjivii/j.ovEV[j.a.Td) in his account of Sasan, Papak, and Ardashir affords another proof that individual episodes at least existed in the Pahlawi literature of this period.
According to the introduction prefixed to Firdawsi's Shdhnama (A.D. 1425—6) by order of Baysunghur, the grand- son of Timur (Tamerlane), a complete and recension* ofThe corrected Pahlawi text of the whole Epic from
Book of Kings. >-, , , rr , r> ' / • £ \
(jayumarth to Khusraw rarwiz (i.e., to A.D. 027) was compiled by the dihqdn Danishwar in the reign of the last Sasanian king Yazdigird III ; and Noldeke remarks on this that, whatever may be the worth of this account in itself, the agreement of the versions given by the Arab historians with the Shdhnama down to the death of Khusraw Parwiz, and their wide divergence after that event, afford evidence of its truth in this particular point ; while the strongly patriotic and legitimist tone which pervades it sufficiently prove that it was compiled under royal supervision and patronage.
THE PERSIAN EPIC 123
This Pahlawi Khudhay-nama(k}^ constantly alluded to by Arab writers such as Hamza, the author of the Fihrist^ &c.,
was translated into Arabic by Ibnu'l-Muqaffac f" m the middle of the eighth century of our era, . and so became generally known in the world of
Arabic literature. This version, most unfor- tunately, is lost, as is also the Persian prose version made in A.D. 957-8 by order of Abu Mansiir al-Ma'mari for Abu Mansiir b. 'Abdu'r-Razzaq, at that time governor of Tus, by four Zoroastrians of Herat, Sistan, Shapur, and Tus.1 The metrical Persian Shahndma, which was constructed chiefly from this, was begun for the Samdnid Prince Nuh b. Mansiir (A.D. 976-997) by Daqlql^ who, however, had only completed some thousand couplets, dealing with the reign of Gushtasp and the advent of Zoroaster, when he was assassinated by a Turkish slave. It was reserved for Firdawsi to complete, a few years later, the task he had begun, and to display in some sixty thousand couplets (which include Daqiqi's work) the National Legend in its final and perfect form. To Daqiqi and Fir- dawsf we shall recur when speaking of Modern Persian literature, and nothing more need therefore be said about them in this chapter, save that the Shdhndma represents the National Legend in its final epic form.
1 See al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations, Sachau's translation, pp. 119 and 45 ; Noldeke's Dan Iranische Nationalepos, pp. 14-15.
BOOK II
ON THE HISTOR Y OF PERSIA FROM THE RISE
OF THE SASANIAN TO THE FALL OF THE
UMAYYAD DYNASTY
(A.D. 226-750)
CHAPTER IV
THE SAsANIAN PERIOD (A.D. 229-652)
It would be neither suitable nor possible to attempt in this chapter to give a detailed history of the Sasanians, though on the other hand a period of such great interest and importance could not fittingly be omitted altogether. For this is a period which marks the transition from the old to the new, intimately connected with both, embodying still much of the ancient glory of the Achaemenians, yet standing in a far clearer historical light — a light to which, besides contemporary inscriptions, coins, and seals, and the native records preserved by Arabic and Persian historians and romance- writers, Byzantine, Syriac, Armenian, and Jewish records each add their contribution. It was these kings, called by the Greeks Chosroes and by the Arabs KhrA (pi. Akasira\ who were the restorers of the ancient Persian Empire and the " Good Religion" of Zoroaster, and of whom Mas'udi (writing in A.D. 956) thus speaks in the preface to his KitAbu't-tanbih •wal-ishr&j (p. 6): "And we have restricted ourselves in this our book to the mention of these empires because of the mighty dominion of the kings of Persia, the antiquity of their rule, the continuity of their sovereignty, the excellence of their administration, their well-ordered policy, the prosperity of their domains, their care for their subjects, and the subju- gation to their allegiance of many of the kings of the world
127
128 THE S AS AN I AN PERIOD
who brought unto them taxes and tribute. And they held sway, withal, over the fourth Clime, which is the Clime of Babel, the middle part of the earth, and the noblest of the [seven] Climes." In the same spirit sings a poet cited in the same work (p. 37), who, though he wrote in Arabic, boasted descent from the Royal House of Persia : —
"And we portioned out our empire in our time As you portion out the meat upon a plate. Greece and Syria we gave to knightly Salm, To the lands wherein the sunset lingers late. And to Tuj the Turkish marches were assigned, Where our cousin still doth rule in royal state. And to Iran we subdued the land of Pars, 'Whence we still inherit blessings rare and great."
We have seen that the Sasanian kings called themselves
"gods" or "divine beings " (Pahlawf bagh, Chaldaean alahay
Greek 0eoe), regarded themselves as the de-
kings regarded scendants and legitimate successors of the ancient
as divine beings. , , v ' ' i J^L-L-^ r
legendary Kayani dynasty and the inheritors or the Farri-Kaydnl or " Royal Splendour " — a kind of Shekina or symbolised Divine Right by virtue of which they alone could rightly wear the Persian crown — and did everything in their power to impress their subjects with a sense of their supreme majesty. Of the accession of " the Royal Splendour" to the House of Sasan we shall shortly cite a curious legend, and of the majesty maintained by them the following extract from Ibn Hisham's Biography of the Prophet (ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 42) furnishes an instance : —
" Now Kisra [Chosroes, here Khusraw Anushirwan] used to sit in
his audience-hall where was his crown, like unto a mighty cask,
according to what they say, set with rubies, emeralds,
The splendour J , J '.. , , ,
which they and pearls, with gold and silver, suspended by a chain
maintained. o£ goj^ from the top of an arch in this his audience- hall ; and his neck could not support the crown, but he was veiled by draperies till he had taken his seat in this his audience-hall, and had introduced his head within his crown, and had settled himself
DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS 129
in his place, whereupon the draperies were withdrawn. And no one who had not previously seen him looked upon him without kneeling in reverence before him."
In no country, probably, has the doctrine of the Divine Right of kings been more generally and more strongly held
than it was in Persia in Sasanian times. That Tthed^p.rvi1ne°f any one not belonging to the Royal House should
dare to assume the royal title was, as Noldeke has pointed out x in reference to the rebellious noble Bahram Chubm and the usurper Shahrbaraz, regarded as an almost incredible act of wickedness and presumption. The prevailing sentiment of the people is, no doubt, truly reflected in the following anecdote told by Dinawari (p. 98) of the flight of Bahram Chubin after his defeat by Khusraw Parwiz and his Byzantine allies —
"And Bahram fled headlong, and on his way he passed by a hamlet, where he halted, and he and Mardan-Sina and Yazdan-
Gushnasp alighted at the dwelling of an old woman. Bohr nfc'hiitna Then they produced some food which they had with
them, and supped, and gave what was left over to the old woman. Then they produced wine ; and Bahram said to the old woman, ' Hast thou nothing wherewith we can drink ? ' 'I have a little gourd/ replied she ; and she brought it to them, and they cut off the top and began to drink from it. Then they produced dessert; and they said to the old woman, ' Hast thou nothing wherein we can put the dessert ?' So she brought them a winno\ving-shovel, into which they poured the dessert. So Bahram ordered that wine should be given to the old woman, and then he said to her, ' What news hast thou, old lady ? ' ' The news with us,' answered she, ' is that Kisra hath advanced with an army of Greeks, and fought Bahram, and overcome him, and recovered from him his kingdom.' 'And what say'st thou,' asked Bahram, 'concerning Bahram ?' 'A silly fool,' replied she, 'who claims the kingdom, not being a member of the Royal House.' Said Bahram, 'Therefore it is that he drinks out of gourds and eats his dessert out of winnowing- fans.' And this became a saying amongst the Persians, which they are wont to cite as a proverb."
' Gesch. d. Sasanidcn, pp. 388 and n. 7, and 477 and n. 2 ad calc,
IO
130 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
For myself, I believe that Gobineau is right in asserting
that this doctrine of the Divine Right of the House of Sasan has
had an immense influence on all subsequent Persian
Influence of this , • • n i_ • t
doctrine in later history, more especially on the tenacity with
which the Persians have clung to the doctrine of
the Shi'a or sect of 'Ali. To them the idea of electing a
Caliph, or spiritual successor to the Prophet, natural enough
to the democratic Arabs, could not appear otherwise than
revolting and unnatural, and in the case of ' Umar, the second
orthodox Caliph, there was also an element of personal hatred
against the destroyer of the Persian Empire, which, though
disguised under a religious garb, is nevertheless unmistakable.
Husayn, on the other hand, the younger son of the Prophet's
daughter Fatima, and of his cousin 'All, was believed by them
to have married Shahr-banu, the daughter of
daughter'" Ribi Yazdigird III, the last Sasanian king ; and hence
Shahr-banu." , . . T , c . , ni ,.. c
the remaining Imams or both great Shrite factions (the " Sect of the Twelve " now prevalent in Persia, and the "Sect of the Seven," or Isma'ilis) represent not only the Prophetic but the Kingly right and virtue, being at the same time descended from the Prophet Muhammad and from the House of Sasan. Hence the political doctrine to which Gobineau (Re!, et philos. dans r Asie Centrale, p. 275) alludes in the following passage : —
" C'est un point de doctrine politique inconteste en Perse que les
Alides seuls ont le droit a porter legitimement la couronne, et cela
en leur double qualite d'heritiers des Sassanides, par
BaSpoMc^ 'te leur mere> Bibi-Sheher-banou, fille du dernier roi
Yezdedjerd, et d'Imams, chefs de la religion vraie.
Tous les princes non Alides sont des souverains de fait ; aux yeux
des gens severes, ce sont meme des tyrans ; dans aucun cas,
personne ne les considere comme detenteurs de 1'empire a titre
regulier. Je ne m'etendrai pas ici sur cette opinion absolue,
tranchante, qui n'a jamais admis la prescription ; j'en ai assez
longuement parle dans un autre ouvrage. Ce fut sur cette base que
les politiques babys eleverent tout leur edifice."
BfB/ SHAHR-BANti 131
Now whether this marriage really took place or not, it has been accepted by the Shi'ites as a historical fact for many centuries. Amongst early authors who allude to it we may cite al-Ya'qubf (ed. Houtsma, vol. ii, p. 293), an Arabic historian who flourished in the latter part of the ninth century of our era, and who concludes his account of Husayn's tragic death as follows : —
" Amongst the sons of al-Husayn were ' All Akbar, who was killed in at-Taff,1 and left no offspring, whose mother was Layla, the daughter of Abu Murra b. 'Urwa b. Mas'iid ath-Thaqafi ; and 'All Asghar, whose mother was Harar,2 the daughter of Yazdigird, whom al-Husayn used to call Ghazala ('the Gazelle ')."
This Shahr-banu, "the Mother of Nine Imams" (the fourth to the twelfth) still holds a place in the hearts of her country- men ; she gives her name to a mountain three tbeitarian or four miles south of Tihran (the Kuh-i-Bibl Shahr-banu) which no male footstep may profane, and which is visited by women who desire an intercessor with God for the fulfilment of their needs ; and she is one of the heroines of those heart-moving passion-plays (ta'ziyas) which are yearly enacted in every Persian town and colony to crowds of weeping spectators. And this is how she is made to speak in the drama entitled " the Passing of Shahrbanu " (Ta'ziya-i-ghd'ib shudan-i-Shahr-bdnuy Tihran, A.H. 1314, p. 19) :—
Zi nasl- i- Yazdijird- i-Shah riyd ram, Zi Nushiiwdn buwad asl-i~nizdram. Dar an waqti ki bakhtam kdmrdn bud Baddn shahr-i-Ray-am andar makdn bud. Shabi rafiam bi-si'tyi qa$r-i-bdbam, Biydmad Hazrat-i-Zahrd bi-khwdbam, Bu-guft, 'Ay Shahr-bdnu, bd sad d'in Turd man bar Husayn dram bi-kdbin.'
1 That portion of Arabia which borders on the cultivated lands of 'Iraq. 1 Other names ascribed by other writers are, besides Shahr-bdn* (universal amongst the modern Persians), as-Suldfa and Sluih-i-Zandn.
132 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
Bt-guflam, 'Man nishasta dar M add' in,
Husayn andar Madina hast sdktn:
1 Muhdl-ast in sukhun!' Farmiid Zahrd,
' Hasan dyad bi-sarddri dar injd ;
' Tu mi-gardi asir, ay bi-qarina ;
' Barand-at az Madd 'in dar Madina;
1 Bi-farzandam Husayn paywand sdzi,
'Mara az nasl-i-khud . khursand sdzi.
' Zi nasl-at null Imam dyad bi-dawrdn
lKi na-b'wad mislashdn dar ddr-i-dawrdn!
" Born of the race of Yazdigird the King From Nushirwan my origin I trace. What time kind Fortune naught but joy did bring In Ray's proud city was my home and place. There in my father's palace once at night In sleep to me came Fatima ' the Bright ' ; 'O Shahr-banu'— thus the vision cried — 'I give thee to Husayn to be his bride I* Said I, ' Behold Mada'in is my home, And how shall I to far Madina roam?1 Impossible ! ' But Fatima cried, ' Nay, Hasan shall hither come in war's array, And bear thee hence, a prisoner of war, From this Mada'in to Madina far, Where, joined in wedlock with Husayn, my boy, Thou shalt bear children who will be my joy. For nine Imams to thee shall owe their birth, The like of whom hath not been seen on earth ! ' "
A few lines further on occurs a passage so characteristic of
1 Madina in Arabia means " the city," and Mada'in is its plural. The ancient Yathrib, when honoured by the flight thither of the Prophet Muhammad, was called Madina tu'n-Nabi, " the City of the Prophet," or simply al-Madina, " the City." By Mada'in Ctesiphon, the ancient Sasanian capital in Chaldaea, is meant. It is said by the Arabian geographers to have been so called because it was formed by the fusion and coalescence of seven cities (madd'in). See Barbier de Meynard's Did. de la Perse, p. 519. The confusion between Ray (the ancient Rhagae, near the modern Tihran) and Ctesiphon is merely one indication of the essentially popular and unscientific character of these ta'ziyas, which makes their testimony to the national feeling the more significant. The sentiments embodied by them are not those of pedants, but of the nation.
BiBt SHAHR-BANll 133
the Persian hatred of 'Umar and love of 'All that I cannot forbear quoting it in this connection. Shahr-banii is brought to Madina in a litter, as befits a king's daughter, by the chivalrous Hasan, but then her troubles begin : —
" Wali chun shud Madina manzil-i-ind Gham-i-'dlam fuzi'in shud bar dil-i-md. Yaki guftd ki, ' In dukhtar kaniz-ast ' : Yaki guftd, ' Bi-shahr-i-khud 'aziz-ast.' Bi-masjid mard u zan dar bam mahzar, Mard nazd-i-' Umar burdand, mddar I Kaldmi guft Kazu dar khurush-am: Bu-guft, 'In bi-kasdn-rd mi-funhham ! ' 1 AH jiddat chu bar dmad khurushdn Bu-guftd, ' Lab bi-band, ay di'in-i-ndddn f Na-shdyad burdan, ay mal'un-i-ghadddr Buzurgdn-rd sar-i-'urydn bi-bdzdrl' Pas az dn khwdrt, ay nur-i-dii ' ayn-am, Bi-bakhshidand bar bdbat Husayn-am. Husayn karda wasiyyat bar man-i-zdr Na-manam dar miydn-i-Al-i-At-hdr. Agar mdnam, asir u khwdr gardam, Btrahna-sar bi-har bazar gardam. Ti'i, ch»n hasti Imdm u Shahriydram, Bi-dast-i-tust, mddar, ikhtiydram. Agar gii'i, rawant, dard-at bi-jdnam ; §aldh-am gar na-mi-ddni, bi-mdnarn I '
"But when at last I reached Madina' s town A whole world's sorrow seemed to weigh me down. One cried, ' This girl a serving-maid shall be ! " Another, ' Nay, she was of high degree 1 ' The women thronged the roofs ; the mosque, the men : O Mother I Me they bore to 'Umar then, Who spoke a word that caused me pain untold : 'These hapless wretches shall as slaves be sold 1' But 'All then appeared upon the scene, And cried, ' Be silent, fool and coward mean ! These gentle women, traitor, void of grace, Shall not stand naked in the market-place ! ' Light of mine eyes ! After such treatment dire, They gave me to Husayn, thy noble sire,
134 THE S AS AN I AN PERIOD
Who did advise poor me, to spare me pain, That after him I should not here remain. Should I remain, enslaved, in fashion base, I should be driven through each market-place. Now, Mother, dear, Imam and Sov'reign mine, Into thy hands my option I resign. Bid my fare forth, my bosom filled with pain, Or bid me tarry, and I will remain ! ' "
A darker picture of the Sasanians is presented by Christian,
notably by Syrian, writers, a source of information " not
sufficiently used," as Noldeke remarks, " by most
Views of Chris- -~ , ..,,,_ - . .
tian subjects and Orientalists. 1 WO Works of this claSS in par-
contemporaries . ,
of the ticular may be recommended to those students of
Sasanians.
Persian history who, like the writer, are un- fortunately unable to consult this literature in the original. The first is the Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite,1 composed in A.D. 507, describing the Persian invasion of Asia Minor by Kawad, and especially the sufferings of Edessa and Amid (now 'Urfa and Diyar Bekr) in the beginning of the sixth century of our era. The other is the Acts of the Persian
Martyr sf excerpted from various Syriac manuscripts Tmarteirsan anc^ trans'ate^ mto German with the most scholarly
notes, by George Hoffmann. In these books, both on political and religious grounds, it is natural that the Persians should be depicted in rather lurid colours, but in the first, at any rate, it does not appear that they acted more cruelly or more falsely than their Christian antagonists, though it is natural enough that the author, writing within two or three years of the war which had desolated his home, should occa- sionally speak of them in such terms as these : — " Now the pleasure of this wicked people is abundantly made evident by this, that they have not shown mercy unto those who were
1 Text and translation published at Cambridge (1882) by the late Dr. W. Wright.
" Auszuge aus Syrischen Akten Persischer Mitrtyrer . . , von Georg Hoffmann (Leipzig, 1880).
TOLERATION A SIN 135
delivered up unto them ; for they have been accustomed to show their pleasure and to rejoice in evil done to the children of men."
Religious feeling, indeed, ran high on both sides, and in the
matter of toleration there was little to choose between the
Zoroastrian and the Christian priesthoods. A
reilgiousebtas g°°d instance of the extent to which judgment of
character was influenced by purely theological
considerations is afforded by comparing the accounts of
Yazdigird I (A.D. 399-420) given by the Arabic
Yazdigird "the historians (who drew their information and their
sinner. V
views ultimately from the Pahlawi Book of Kings, which was composed under the influence of the Magian priests) with a Syriac account of the same king's character from the pen of a contemporary Christian writer. In the former Yazdigird is called "the sinner " (Pers. Baza-gar, Arab. al-Ath\m\ and his wickedness, frowardness, and tyranny are described as almost superhuman. In the latter he is spoken of in the following terms : " the good and merciful King Yazdigird, the Christian, the blessed amongst the kings, may he be remembered with blessing, and may his future be yet more fair than his earlier life ! Every day he doeth good to the poor and the distressed." * So too Khusraw I (A.D. 531-578) gained the title of
Niishirwan (Anhshak-rubdn, "of immortal soul"), N"shj™t" th° ky which he is still remembered as the very
embodiment of kingly virtue and justice, by his high-handed suppression of the heresy of the communist Mazdak, which, in the eyes of the intolerant Magian priests, constituted his chief claim to " immortality " ; and such service has their approval done him that Sa'di, zealous Muham- madan as he was, says : —
" Zinda'st ndm-i-farrukh-t-Nushirwdn bi-'adl, Garchi basi guzasht ki Nushiiwdn na-mdnd"
See Noldeke's Gcsch. d, Sasaniilcn, p. 74, n. 3 ad calc.
136 THE S AS AN I AN PERIOD
"The blessed name of Nushirwan doth still for justice stand, Though long hath passed since Nushirwan hath vanished from the land."
For the Christians, too, Nushirwan, as we learn from
Dmawari (p. 72), entertained the greatest contempt. When
his son Anusha-zadh, who had espoused the faith
Ntishirwan's .. . . — ,, . . . . . , . .
opinion of the of his Christian mother, revolted against him, and
Christians. ... .— . . . . _ .
his viceroy at Ctesiphon wrote to him for instruc- tions, he wrote in his reply as follows : " Let not the multitude of the people affright thee, for they have no enduring might. How, indeed, shall the Christians endure, when it is prescribed in their religion that if one of them be smitten on the left cheek, he shall offer the right also ? "
To return now to the scope of this chapter. Being unable to do more than glance at certain points in the history of this
period, I propose to speak especially of its !f°thisacnhdapter beginning and its end ; the first, which is largely
mixed with legend and fable, in order that I may have an opportunity of comparing certain episodes therein as sung by Firdawsi in the Shdhndma with the same episodes as narrated in the Pahlawl Kdr-ndmak-i-Artakshatr-i-Pdpakdn ; the last, as having an immediate connection with the Arab Con- quest which marks the inauguration of the modern, or Muham- madan period. Besides this, two religious movements of this epoch — those associated with the names of Manes (Mani) and Mazdak — deserve some notice, as early instances of that passion for philosophical speculation which is so remarkable a characteristic of the Persians, who have probably produced more great heresiarchs than any other nation in the world. Of these two men the first was born, according to his own state- ment,1 during the reign of Ardawan (Artabanus) the last Parthian king, and was contemporary with the founder of the
1 See al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations, translated by Sachau (London, 1879), p. 121.
LEGEND OF ARDASHJR 137
Sasanian dynasty ; the second, as we have seen, was put to death by Nushirwan in A.D. 528 or 529, at which time the Sasanian power was at its height, though the first symptoms of its decline were not far distant. This chapter will therefore fall into four divisions — namely, (i) The Legend of Ardashir and the foundation of the Sasanian dynasty; (2) Manes and the Manichaean doctrine; (3) Nushirwan and Mazdak ; (4) the last days of the House of Sasan.
I. The Legend of Ardashir.
The principal episodes of this Legend, as presented by the Pahlawi K&rn&mak (of which I make use of Noldeke's excellent German translation, a tirage-a-part of 21-69 pages, whereof the Introduction occupies pp. 22-34) and the Shdhndma (Macan's Calcutta ed., vol. iii, pp. 1365-1416) areas follows.
(1) Sasan, fifth in descent from Bahman " Dirds-dast" (Longi- manus, see p. 117 supra), enters the service of Papak (Babak), Prince of Pars, as a herdsman. Papak, warned in a dream of Sasan's kingly origin, raises him to high honour and confers on him the hand of his daughter. Of this union Ardashir is the offspring (K. 36-38 ; Sh. 1365).
(2) Papak adopts Ardashir as 'his son, and as he grows up the fame of his courage, wisdom, and knightly virtues reaches Ardawan, the last Parthian King, who summons him to his court at Ray. There he is honourably entertained, until one day out hunting he gives the lie to one of Ardawan's sons who claims a remarkable shot made in reality by him. Thereupon he is disgraced, and dismissed to serve in the Royal stables (K. 38-41 ; Sh. 1366).
(3) A beautiful and wise maiden who enjoys Ardawan's fullest confidence takes pity upon Ardashir, provides two swift horses, and escapes with him to Pars. Ardawan pursues them, but turns back on learning that the " Royal Splendour," personified as a fine ram, has caught up Ardashir and rides behind him on his horse (K. 41-46 ; Sh. 1370).
(4) Ardashir's wars with the Parthians and others ; his defeat of Ardawan and his son, and his reverse at the hands of the Kurds (K. 46-49 ; Sh. 1374).
(5) The episode of Haftan-b6kht (Haftawad) and the monstrous
138 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
worm of Kirman, including the war with Mithrak (Mihrak) (K. 49- 57 ; Sh. 1381).
(6) How Ardawan's daughter, married to Ardashir, is by him doomed to death ; how her life is saved by the chief mubad (named Abarsam by Tabari) ; how she brings forth a son, who is named Shapur (Shdh-puhar, " King's son ") ; and how the boy is recognised by his father (K. 57-63 ; Sh. 1392).
(7) Ardashir, having learned from the King of India, Kayt or Kayd, that the sovereignty of Persia will be in his family or in that of his enemy Mihrak, endeavours to extirpate the latter. One of Mihrak's daughters is saved from the massacre, and brought up amongst peasants. Shapur sees and falls in love with her, but conceals his marriage, and the birth of his son Hurmuzd in which it results, from his father Ardashir. Hurmuzd, when seven years old, is recognised by his grandfather by his boldness on the polo field (K. 64-68 ; Sh. 1397).
No one who has read the Kar-n&mak and this portion of the Shdhndma side by side can fail to be greatly impressed by the general fidelity, even in minute details, with which the latter reproduces the former ; and our opinion of Firdawsfs faithful adherence to genuine old legends is equally strengthened by a comparison of the Pahlawi legend of Zanr (Tdtkdr-i-Zarlrdn, translated into German by Geiger) * with the corresponding part of the Shdhndma. Now it is a mere accident that we happen to be able to check these portions by the originals, and we may fairly assume that elsewhere, where we have no such means of control, the poet is equally conscientious in his adherence, even in detail, to ancient legend. Space, however, will not allow the comparison in this place of more than one or two incidents of these two versions of the Legend of Ardashir. We will begin with the account of his birth.
1 See the Sitzungsberichte d. K. b. Akademie d. Wiss. zu Mfinchen for 1890, vol. i, pp. 43-84 : Das Yatkdr-i Zanrdn und sein Verhttltniss znni Shah-ndma by Geiger ; and Noldeke's Persische Stttdien, II : Das Buch von Zarer, in the Sitzungsberichte d. phil. hist. Classe der K. Akad. d. Wissen- schaften for 1892 (Vienna), vol. cxxvi, Abhandlung 12.
LEGEND OF ARDASH/R 139
Karnamak.
"After the death of Alexander the Roman there were in Iran 240 tribal princes. Ispahan, Pars, and the neighbouring lands were in the hands of the chief of them, Ardawan. Papak was Warden of the Marches and Prince of Pars and Governor for Ardawan. Papak dwelt in Stakhr ; he had no son who might be able preserve his name. Sasan was a herdsman of Papak and abode ever with the flocks ; but he was of the race of Dara the son of Dara. During the evil reign of Alexander he had fled away and gone forth with Kurdish shepherds. Papak knew not that Sasan was of the race of Dara the son of Dara. Now one night Papak dreamed that the Sun from the head of Sasan illuminated the whole world. Next night he saw Sasan riding on a richly-caparisoned white elephant, while all throughout the whole Kishwar (region, clime) surrounded him, tendered him their homage, and invoked on him praises and blessings. On the third night he saw how the (sacred) Fires Froba, Gushasp, and Mithr waxed great in the house of Sasan and gave light to the whole world. This amazed him, and so he summoned before him the wise men and interpreters of dreams and related to them what he had dreamed on all three nights. Then said the interpreters of dreams, ' Either the man himself concerning whom thou hast dreamed this, or one of his children, will attain to the lordship of the world : for the sun and the richly-caparisoned white elephant signify Strength, Might, and Victory, while the Fire Froba signifies men well instructed in religion, and eminent over their peers ; the Fire Gushasp, warriors and captains of hosts ; and the Fire Burjin-Mihr, the peasants and husbandmen of the whole world. So the kingship will accrue to this man or to his children.' When Papak heard this speech, he dismissed every one, summoned Sasan before him, and asked him, ' Of what family and stock art thou ? Was any one of thy fathers or forbears a ruler or sovereign ? ' Then Sasan prayed Papak for indulgence and safety [with the words] ' Inflict not on me hurt or harm.' Papak agreed to this, and there- upon Sasan revealed to him his secret, and who he was. Then Papak was glad, and said, ' I will promote thee ; ' whereupon, at his bidding, a full royal dress was brought to him and given to Sasan [and he bade him] ' Put it on.' Sasan did so, and at Papak's com- mend, he then strengthened himself for some days with good and proper meals. Later, he gave him his daughter in marriage, and when the time (according to the predestination of fate) was in accord, the girl forthwith conceived, and from her Artakhshir was born."
f40 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
Shdhndma (ed. Macan, vol. iii, pp. 1365-1367).
"When on the wael-stow Dara his doom met From all his House her face Fortune averted. Him did a son survive, worthy of worship, Wary and wise in war, Sasan ycleped, Who, when he saw his sire thus foully smitten, Saw, too, on Persia's arms Fortune look frowning, Fled from his foes of Greece, swift and fleet-footed, Stayed not to stumble on snares of ill fortune. In distant lands of Ind death overtook him, Where he in turn a son left to succeed him.
Thus in like wise for four generations From sire to son the name Sasan descended. Herdsman were these and hinds, tenders of cattle, Laden each year long with heavy burdens.
When now the last in birth came unto Babak, And on the grazing-grounds sought the head-herdsman, ' Hast thou,' he questioned him, ' need for an hireling, Who here is fain to dwell, even in hardship ? ' Him the head-herdsman hired to his service, Holding him night and day unto long labour. So for a while the man thus did continue, Heart-sick and woe-worn, wearied with toiling.
Sunk in deep slumber Babak one night slept,
And his bright spirit thus in his dream saw.
On a fierce elephant Sasan was seated,
Held in his hand a sharp sword-blade of India,
While those who ringed him round in adoration
Bowed down, and on him blessings invoked.
He by right rule and wise made the earth prosper,
And from the saddened soul banished the sorrow.
When on the second night Babak to sleep sank, Care of his anxious mind was the companion. Thus in his dream he saw now, that the Fire-Priest Held in his hand aloft three flaming censers, Kharrad and Mihr-fires, Adhar-Gushasp too,1
1 On these three most sacred Fires, see Noldeke's note in his trans- lation of the Kdr-ndmak (p. 37, n. 3 ad calc,). Kharrad in Firdawsi stands for Frobd, Frobag, or Farnbag.
141
Brilliantly blazing like the bright heavens,
There before Sasan fiercely were flaring,
While in each blazing fire aloe-wood smouldered.
Then from his slumber Babak awaking Felt in his anxious heart fearful forebodings. Such as were wise to read dreamings and visions, Such as were skilled in solving of riddles, . Straightway assembled at Babak's palace, Seers and Saga-men, skilful in learning. Then unto these revealed Babak his vision, And all his dreamings frankly unfolded, While the dream-readers, pondering deeply, Lent all their ears while forming their answer.
Answered the spokesman then, 'King, highly favoured, Look we now closely to the dream's showing. He whom thou sawest thus in thy slumber • High o'er the sun shall lift his head in lordship. Even though he should fail in the fulfilment, Him will a son succeed earth to inherit.' Blithely did Babak lend ear to this answer, Unto each gifts he gave after his measure.
Then Babak straightway hailed the head-herdsman ;
Forth from the flocks he came through the thick fog-drifts,
Breasting the sleet and snow, wrapped in his blanket,
Fear in his bosom, frost on his fur-cloak.1
When from his audience-hall Babak had ousted
Strangers, alike both statesman and servant,
Then by his side the shepherd he seated,
Graciously greeted him, asked him of Sasan,
Asked of his lineage and of his fore-bears,
While, with foreboding filled, Sasan sat silent.
Then at length spake he, 'Sire, to thy shepherd If thou wilt freely grant grace and forgiveness, All that concerns my race I will discover, If, hand in hand,3 with oath thou wilt assure me
1 Noldeke (loc. cii.t p. 26) notices this especially as one of the graphic touches whereby Firdawsi strove to give life and colour to the curt, dry narrative of the Pahlawi original.
' Concerning the " hand-contract " see the Vendiddd, Fargard iv, v. 3 Dannesteter's English transl. in S. B. E,, vol i, p. 35).
142
That neither privily nor yet in public
Thou wilt attempt to wreak on me thy vengeance.'
Babak, thus hearing, loosened his tongue in speech :
Much made he mention of the All-Giver,
Saying, ' I swear no hurt shall befal thee,
Nay, I will hold thee honoured and noble'
Then spake the youth again freely to Babak,
' Know, valiant knight, that Sasan my sire is,
Who from King Ardashir's seed was descended,
(He who is called by you ' Bahman the Long-hand');
Of brave Isfandiyar he was the offspring,
Who of King Gushtasp's fair fame was the guardian.'1
When Babak heard this, tear-floods he rained
From those clear eyes which gazed on the vision.
Then kingly garments brought he from out his store,
And eke a horse equipped with lordly harness.
' Hence to the bath,' quoth he, ' hie thee in all haste,
And there abide till fit raiment be brought thee.'
Soon a fair palace built he for Sasan ; (Thus from the herdsman did he upraise him), And in this palace when he had placed him Bondsmen and servants set he before him, Gave him all gear and garb needful for lordship, And of all goods and gifts ample endowment, Last, his dear daughter gave him in wedlock, Crown of his glory she, and his heart's darling.
When o'er the moon-faced maid nine moons had waned
To her a son was born, radiant as sun-light,
Like unto Ardashir, famed in the older time,
Graceful, and growing daily in favour.
Him too his father Ardashir named,
By him his grand-sire greatly was gladdened."
1 The tracing of the Sasanian pedigree to Gushtasp (Vi'shtaspa), the protector of Zoroaster, and the first " Defender of the Faith " is part of the general plan which aims at representing them as the direct and legitimate heirs of the ancient Persian kings, and the hereditary champions of "the Good Religion."
LEGEND OF ARDASHJR 143
The next episode which I shall give is the flight of Ardashir from Ardawin's court at Ray to Pars, accompanied by the beautiful and wise maiden (called Gulnar by Firdawsi) who had hitherto acted as Ardawan's counsellor and adviser, but who is moved by love for Ardashir to cast in her lot with him.
Kdrndmak.
" Thereupon Ardawan equipped an army of 4,000 men and took
the road towards Pars after Artakhshir. When it was mid-day he
came to a place by which the road to Pars passed, and asked, ' At
what time did those two riders whose faces were set in this direction
pass by here ? ' Then said the people, ' Early in the morning, when
the sun rose, they passed by swiftly as the wind Artai, and a very
large ram ran after them, than which a finer could not be found.
We know that already ere now he will have put behind him a
distance of many parasangs, and that it will be impossible for you
to catch him.' So Ardawan tarried not there, but hastened on.
When he came to another place, he asked the people, ' When did
those two riders pass by ? ' They answered, ' To-day at noon did
they go by like the wind Artai, and a ram ran after them.' Then
Ardawan was astonished and said, ' Consider : the two riders we
know, but what can that ram be ? ' Then he asked the Dastiir, who
replied, ' That is the Kingly Splendour (Klnirra-i-Khud 'd' 'Hi) ; it hath
not yet overtaken him, but we must make haste ; it is possible that
we may catch them before it overtakes them.' Then Ardawan
hastened on with his horsemen. On the second day they had
put behind them seventy parasangs : then a caravan met them.
Ardawan asked the people, ' In what place did you meet those
two riders?' They replied, 'Between you and them is still a
distance of twenty parasangs. We noticed that beside one of those
riders a very large and mighty ram sat on the horse.' * Ardawan
asked the Dastiir, ' What signifies this ram which is beside him on
the horse ?' He answered, ' May'st thou live for ever ! The Royal
Splendour (Khurrak-i-Kaydn = Firdawsi's farr-i-kaydni, and the
Kait'acm Hwareno of the Avesta) hath overtaken Ardashir ; in no
wise can we now take them captive. Therefore weary not yourself
and your horsemen more, nor further tire the horses, lest they
succumb. Seek in some other way to prevail against Artakhshir.'
When Ardawan heard this, he turned back and betook himself
again to his home."
144 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
Shdhndma.
"Then did the King perceive plain that the maiden With Ardashir had fled, his favours scorning. Thereat his heart was stirred into dire anger, And, on his chestnut horse hastily mounting, Called he his horsemen bold out on the war-trail, And on the southward road forth like a fire flamed.
On the road came he to a fair township, Wherein were many men and countless cattle. Of them demanded he whether at day-break Any had heard the beat of horses' hoof-strokes, Or had beheld a pair riding right hotly, One on a snow-white steed, one on a black barb. Answered one, 'Yea, hard by on the road here, Forth to the plain fared two with their horses, And at the horses' heels galloped a wild sheep, Which, like the horses, hurled dust-clouds behind it*
Then quoth King Ardawan to his adviser,
'What was this mountain-sheep which ran behind them?'
Answered the other, ' That Royal Splendour
Which, by his lucky star, leads him to lordship.
If now this sheep should o'ertake him in running
Naught there is left us saving long labour.'
There then King Ardawan hastily halted, Rested, refreshed him, then hastened onward. After Prince Ardashir hotly they hurried, At their head Ardawan with his adviser.
(Fifteen couplets, II. 10-24, omitted.')
When of the day had passed half, and the world-light Up to the midmost point heaven had measured, Saw he again a fair hamlet and fragrant, Where, too, the village-folk hastened to meet him. Thus quote the King once more unto their head-man, 'Tell me, these riders, how passed they your hamlet?' Thus quoth the head-man : ' Lord of fair fortune, Born 'neath a lucky star, cunning in counsel ! What time the sun in high heaven was paling, And night was spreading her purple vestment,
LEGEND 01^ ARDASH/R 145
Hard by our hamlet two riders hastened,
Dry were their lips with thirst, their raiment dust-stained,
And behind one on the saddle a sheep sat :
In palace hunting-scenes ne'er was its like met.'
Then to King Ardawan spake his adviser :
'Turn we now back again whither we came from,
Since now the matter changeth its aspect,
In that King Ardashir's luck rides behind him.
So with hands empty will the quest leave us.
Unto thy son now send thou a letter,
Unto him, point by point, make clear the matter,
That he, perchance, may gain trace of our quarry,
Ere of the mountain-sheep's milk he partaketh.'
When Ardawan had heard thus from the spokesman He for a surety knew his fortune faded. So in the hamlet straight he alighted, And rendered praises to the All-Giver. But when the night was spent, at early morning, Bade he his armed host turn themselves homewards. So, with cheeks sallow like the scorched reed-bed, Did he to Ray return in the dark twilight."
The Legend of Haftan-bokht (Haftawad in the ShJh- nAma] and the Worm of Kirman is too interesting to be entirely omitted, though lack of space compels me to give only that portion of it which relates to the actual destruction of this monster. The connection of this Worm (Kirm] with the city of Kirman is, of course, a piece of popular etymology, but it serves to show that those who persist in writing the name of this town as Karm&n adopt a pronunciation which has certainly not been used in Persia for nine hundred years, whatever may have been the case in more ancient times. A similar word-play occurs in the BustAn of Sa'di (ed. Graf, P- 87, 1. 535)." On the name Hafthn-bbkht^ "the Seven have delivered," Noldeke has a very interesting note (Kdr-n&mak, p. 49, n. 4). He points out that many names, notably of Christians, were compounded with the word bbkht, "hath delivered," e.g., MArA-bokht, " the Lord hath delivered,"
II
146 THE SAsANIAN PERIOD
t^ or Bukht-yishu1^ " Jesus hath delivered," while amongst Zoroastrians we find St-&6tht,u"tbt Three (i.e., good thoughts, good words, and good deeds) have delivered," and Chahar- bokhty " the Four have delivered." " The Seven " referred to in the name of Ardashir's opponent are, he adds, the seven planets, which belong to the Creation of Ahriman the Evil Spirit. This name is therefore peculiarly appropriate for one whose reliance is in the powers of hell and the magic of the demons. Firdawsi was compelled by the exigencies of his metre to alter the name into Haftawcia (explained in the Shahnama glossaries as meaning " Having seven sons " J), a form obtainable from the Pahlawi by excision of the three middle characters of the word, since the last three characters can equally well be read -okht or -wAt.2
Karndmak.
"Then he sent forth people to wage war with the Worm, summoned Burjak and Burjatur before him, and took counsel with them. Thereafter they took many gold and silver coins and garments ; he himself [Artakhshir] put on a dress of Khurasan, came with Burjak and Burjatur to the foot of Castle Gular, and said : ' I crave of my august masters the boon of being admitted to the service of the Court.' The idolaters admitted Artakhshir with the two men, and installed them in the house of the Worm. Then for three days Artakhshir showed himself eager in service and devoted to the Worm. The gold and silver coins and the garments he presented to the servants. Then all who were in the Castle, marvelled and were loud in his praises. Then said Artakhshir, ' It would give me pleasure to feed the Worm for three days with my own hand.' To this the servants and attendants consented. Then Artakhshir dismissed every one, and commanded an army of four hundred valiant and devoted men to conceal themselves opposite that place in a cleft of the mountain. Also he commanded, ' When on the day of Asman 3 ye see smoke from the fortress of the Worm, then put forth your valour and courage and come to the
1 Seven sons are ascribed to him also in the Kdrndmak, p. 51. * Noldeke's ingenious view is, however, rejected by Darraesteter (Etudes Iraniennes, vol. ii, pp. 82-83). 3 The 2;th of the month.
LEGEND OF HAFTAN-BOKHT 147
foot of the Castle.' On that day he himself held the molten copper, while Burjak and Burjatur offered praise and glory to God. When now it was the time for its meal the Worm roared, as it did each day. Artakhshir had previously made the attendants and watchers of the Worm drunk and senseless at a meal. Then he went him- self with his attendants to the Worm, bringing to it the blood of oxen and sheep, such as it received daily. But as soon as the Worm opened its mouth to drink the blood, Artakhshir poured the molten copper into its throat, and when this entered its body it burst asunder into two pieces. Thereupon such a roaring arose from it that all the people from the Castle rushed in thither, and confusion arose amongst them. Artakhshir laid his hand on his shield and sword, and made a great slaughter and massacre in the Castle. Then he commanded, ' Kindle a fire such that the smoke may be manifest to those knights.' This the servants did, and when the knights who were in the mountains saw the smoke from the Castle, they hastened to the foot of the Castle to help Artakhshir, and forced the entrance with the cry, ' Victorious be Artakhshir, King of kings, the son of Papak ! ' "
Slidhndma.
"Thence he returned war with the Worm to wage, He with his warriors bold, bent on its slaughter. World-tried and war-wise came he with armed hosts Numbering two thousand over ten thousand. When thus his scattered hosts he had assembled 'Twixt the two mountains boldly he brought them.
Then spake King Ardashir unto his captain, One who was skilled in war and wise in counsel, Shahr-gir named, ' Taker of cities ' : 'Watchful and wakeful thou shalt abide here, Keeping thy scouts alert day-time and night-time, Ringing thy camp around with ready horsemen ; Sentries about thee, warders around thee, By night and day shall keep watch o'er thine army. Such cunning wile of war now will I venture, As did Isfandiyar, my noble forbear.1
1 The allusion is to the capture of the Brazen Fortress (Ru'm Dizh), which Isfandiyar entered as a merchant. See Shdhndma, ed. Macan,
V( il I r\I\ lt.il *i fflrtf*
vol. iii, pp. 1143 et scqq
148
If then thy sentry by day a smoke-cloud Sees, or at night a fire like the sun flaming, Know then at last the Worm's witcheries ended, Know that its star is set, its strength departed.'
Out of his captains then seven men chose he,
Brave men and valiant all, lions in warfare ;
E'en from the winds of heav'n kept he his counsel.
Then from his coffers fair gems he gathered,
Gold coins and rare brocades and rich possessions,
Holding things priceless cheap in his prudence.
With lead and copper then two chests he crammed full,
And, midst his baggage bound one brazen cauldron,
Being well skilled in crafts and devices
When in this wise his wares had been chosen From the horse-master ten asses claimed he, And like an ass-herd in coarse apparel clad, But with his bales filled full with gold and silver Fared he with anxious heart forth on the forward way, And from the camp set his face to the fortress. Also those two brave peasants who gave him Harbour and shelter once in disaster Chose he as comrades on his forth-faring, Since he had proved them loyal and wary. Thus on the road they drew near to the fortress, Breasted the hill-ridge, rested to breathe again. (
For the Worm's service sixty were set apart,
Eager and earnest each in his service,
Of whom one cried aloud as they approached,
' What have ye hidden there in your boxes ? '
Thus the King answered that stern inquiry :
' Of every precious stuff samples I bring you :
Red gold and silver white, ornaments, raiment,
Dinars and fine brocades, jewels and sable.
I from Khurasan come as a merchant,
Leaving luxurious ease for toilsome journeys.
Much wealth have I amassed by the Worm's blessing,
And now I grateful come unto the Worm's throne ;
Since by its favour my fortunes prospered,
Right do I deem it service to render.'
LEGEND OF HAFTAN-BdKHT 149
When the Worm's warders thus heard the tale he told Forthwith the fortress-gates wide they flung open. Then, when his loads were laid safe in the fortress, Thus did the King prepare his task to finish. Swiftly before them spread he the wares he brought, Graciously gave to each what he most craved. Then for the warders spread he a rich repast, And like a servitor stood there to serve them, Cast loose the locks and clasps of chest and coffer, Brought forth a beaker brimming with date-wine. But from the brimming bowl those who were charged With the Worm's feeding turned their faces. Since milk and rice for its meal must they carry Feared they that wine might their footsteps unsteady.
Then to his feet leaped Ardashir lightly,
Crying, 'With me I bear much milk and fine rice.
Let me, I pray you, for days and nights three,
Gladden my spirit with the Worm's service.
Thus in the world fair fame shall I win me,
And from the Worm's luck borrow new blessing.
Blithely three days and nights quaff ye the wine-cup,
And on the fourth day, when the world-kindler
Rises, a booth right royal I'll build me,
Which shall o'ertop the towers of the Palace.
I am a chapman, eager for custom,
And by the WTorm much fame shall I win me.'
He by these cunning words his aim accomplished : ' Feed thou the Worm,' they cried, ' so an it please thee.' Thus did the ass-herd win by his wiles his aim, While unto wine and song wended the warders.
When these had drunk deep wine overcame them ; Thus to wine-worship turned they from watching. And when their souls were deep steeped in the wine-cup Forth fared the Prince with his hosts of the hamlet, Brought with him copper and brazen cauldron, Kindled a flaming fire in the white daylight. So to the Worm at its meal-time was measured In place of milk and rice much molten metal. Unto its trench he brought that liquid copper ; Soft from the trench its head the Worm upraised. Then they beheld its tongue, like brazen cymbal, Thrust forth to take its food as was its custom.
ISO THE S AS AN I AN PERIOD
Into its open jaws that molten metal
Poured he, while in the trench helpless the worm writhed.
Crashed from its throat the sound of fierce explosion
Such that the trench and whole fort fell a-quaking.
Swift as the wind Ardashir and his comrades
Hastened with drawn swords, arrows, and maces.
Of the Worm's warders, wrapped in their wine-sleep,
Not one escaped alive from their fierce onslaught.
Then from the Castle-keep raised he the smoke-wreaths
Which his success should tell to his captains.
Hasting to Shahr-gir swift came the sentry,
Crying, ' King Ardashir his task hath finished ! '
Quickly the captain then came with his squadrons,
Leading his mail-clad men unto the King's aid."
We see from the above extracts not only the fidelity with which Firdawsi followed the Pahlawi legend (known to him,
as Noldeke has shown, not in the original, but in historiciffigaure Persian translations), but also to what extent surkg"ndtby legends and fables gathered round the perfectly
historical figure of " Artakhshir, King of kings of Persia and non-Persia, son of Papak the King," known to us not only from historical works, but from coins and inscrip- tions1 dating from his own time. With him, indeed, the native tradition may be said to pass from mythology to history (for the Alexander-legend, as we have already seen, is an importation from without), a point well put by the historian Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qiibi (ed. Houtsma, vol. i, pp. 178-179), who flourished towards the end of the ninth century of our era, in the following words : —
" Persia claims many supernatural attributes for its kings which
cannot be accepted as credible, such as that one had a number of
mouths and eyes, and another a face of copper,2 and
Pcrsian"egend tnat on *ne shoulders of another grew two snakes
and Persian which ate human brains,3 the long duration of their
lives, their keeping death from mankind, and the like
1 At Naqsh-i-Rustam. See Ker-Porter, i, pi. xxiii, p. 548 ; Flandin, iv, pi. 182.
* Isfandiyar, called Ruin-tan, " having a body of brass," is probably intended. 3 Dahak is here meant.
THE HAji-ABAD INSCRIPTION 151
of this ; things which reason rejects, and which must be referred to the category of idle tales and frivolous fables, devoid of actuality. But such of the Persians as possess sense and knowledge, or nobility and distinguished extraction, alike princes and squires (dihqan), tradi- tionists and men of culture, neither believe nor affirm nor repeat these things, and we find them reckoning the Persian Empire only from [the time of] Ardashir Babakan. ... So we have omitted them [these legends], our method being to reject what is of ill savour."
Shapur, the son of Ardashir (the interesting legend of whose
birth and recognition, given in the Kdr-namak, the Shah-ndma^
and most of the Arabian historians, I am compelled
Shapur I. . , . T¥T
to omit for lack of space) is notable in Western history for his successful campaigns against the "Romans" and his capture of the Emperor Valerian, achievements com- memorated in the sculptures of Naqsh-i-Rustam
Shapur's inscrip- , , .
lions and and bhapur.1 1 he Greek translation attached to
monuments. ' ir»ii ' • • - r L •
the short bi-lmgual rahlawi inscription or this king at Naqsh-i-Rajab (which formed, as we have seen, the starting-point of the decipherment of both the Sasanian and the Achaemenian inscriptions) was probably cut by some Greek
prisoner. The longer Haji-abad inscription T^ascr^.titn^d st'^ presents some difficulties, in spite of the
labours of Thomas (1868), West (1869), Haug (1870), and other scholars, and the excellent reproductions of it (casts, copies, and photographs) available. Thomas did excellent service in publishing all the available Pahlawi inscrip- tions, but he was more successful in decipherment than in interpretation, where his results were of the most amazing kind, for he explained several of these edicts as professions of faith on the part of the Sasanian kings in the God of the Jews and Christians, and in consequence the divergence between the translations offered by him and the other scholars mentioned is so great that Lord Curzon says in his work on Persia (vol. ii, pp. 116-117): —
1 Cur?on's Persia, vol. ii, pp. 120 and 211,
152 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
" That the decipherment of the Pehlevi character has reached no scientific stage of development is manifest from the different read- ings that have been given of the Hajiabad lines ; and sooner than pin my faith either to the philo-Christian theory of Mr. Thomas, or to the bowshot theory of Dr. M. Haug, although I believe the latter has secured the verdict of most scholars, I prefer the security of unshamed ignorance."
No one, however, who is at all capable of weighing the evidence can doubt the general correctness of the renderings of Haug and West, who had the advantage over Thomas of being familiar with the book Pahlawi. Out of the 115 words which constitute the Sisanian- Pahlawi version, not more than half a dozen are uncertain in meaning (though unfortunately they are of importance for the understanding of the sense), and the meaning of the first six lines and a half is perfectly certain. The difficulty of fully comprehending the whole largely arises from our absence of information as to the nature of the ceremony described, and the exact object of the shooting of the arrow by the King out of this lonely little cave. Parallels, however, are not wanting, and evidently the shooting of an arrow to determine a site was not unusual in Sasanian times. Thus Tabari (Noldeke's translation, pp. 263-264) and Dina- wari (p. 66) tell us that when the Persian general Wahriz, the conqueror and governor of Yemen, felt his death approach- ing, he called for his bow and arrows, bade his retainers raise him up, and shot an arrow into the air, commanding those who stood by him to mark where it fell, and to build a mausoleum for his body there ; and it is very probable that the shot which forms the subject of the Haji-abdd inscription was made for some similar purpose, which, were it known, would greatly facilitate the full explanation of the inscription.1
1 That the practice of determining a site by shooting an arrow con- tinued into Muhammadan times, and was used by the Arabs as well as the Persians, is shown by a passage in al-Baladhuri's Kitdbn futuhi' l-bulddn (ed. de Goeje, p. 276). Compare II Kings xiii, 14-19.
THE HAjI-ABAD INSCRIPTION 153
We ought, however, to refer in this connection to a very ingenious attempt at a new translation of this inscription made by Fried rich Miiller in the Vienna Oriental Journal for 1892 (vol. vi, pp. 71-75). Citing f°r illustration and comparison a passage from the Iliad (xxiii, 852) and an episode from the life of Charles VI (M. Bermann's Maria Theresa u. Joseph //, p. 38), he takes mino (translated by Haug as "spirit ") as a con- ventional honorific epithet of Royalty at this time (similar to " sublime " in modern Turkey and Persia and " celestial " in China), chetak (= Baluchi chedag, "a stone-arrow") as a pillar set up as a target ( = Homer's t'oroc), and wayak as a bird ( = Homer's rpnpwv TreAeta) j and thus translates the enigmatical inscription.
" This is the edict of me, the Mazda worshipper, Shahpuhr, placed amongst the gods, King of kings of Persia and non- Persia, of celestial descent from God, son of the Mazda-worshipper Artakh- shatr, placed amongst the gods, King of kings of Persia, of celestial descent from God, grandson of Papak, placed amongst the gods, the King.
" And when we shot this arrow, then we shot it in the presence of the Satraps, the Princes, the Great ones and the Nobles : we set the foot on this stone * and shot out the arrow at one of these targets : where the arrow was shot, however, there was no bird at hand, where, if the targets had been rightly set up, the arrow would have been found outwardly visible [or ' sticking in the ground.']
" Then we ordered a target specially set apart for His Majesty to be erected in this place. The Celestial hand [i.e., the hand of His Majesty] wrote this : ' Let no one set foot on this stone or shoot an arrow at this target.' Then I shot the arrow destined for the Royal use at these targets.
" This hath the hand [of the King] written."
* More probably " in this place," for Noldeke (Stoltze's Persepolis, vol. ii, Introduction) reads the word hitherto supposed to be digi or diki as dt'ikt 5= Aramaic diikhd, " place."
154 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
2. Manes and the Manicheeans.
At the end of the Parthian period, in the fourth year ot King Ardawan (A.D. 215-216), as we learn from the Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's translation, p. 121) of Mad"trine h's tne learned al-Biruni (early eleventh century), was born Manes, or Mani, the founder of the Manichaean religion — a religion which, notwithstanding the fierce persecutions to which it was exposed both in the East and the West, alike at the hands of Zoroastrians and Christians, from the very moment of its appearance until the extermina- tion of the unfortunate Albigenses in the thirteenth century, continued for centuries to count numerous adherents, and to exercise an immense influence on religious thought both in Asia and Europe.
In the system which he founded Manes was essentially eclectic ; but though he drew materials both from the ancient Babylonian and from the Buddhist religions, his main endeavour was, as Gibbon has said, " to reconcile the doctrines of Zoroaster and Christ," an attempt which resulted in his being " pursued by the two religions with equal and unrelenting hatred." His system, however, is to be regarded rather as a Christianised Zoroastrianism than as a Zoroastrianised Christianity, since he was certainly a Persian subject, and probably at least half a Persian ; wrote one of his books (the Shaburqan, or Shah- puhrakan^ characterised by the Muhammadan al-Biruni as "of all Persian books one that may be relied upon," since "Mani in his law has forbidden telling lies, and he had no need whatever for falsifying history ") in Persian for King Shapur, whose conversion he hoped to effect, and was finally put to a cruel death by one of Shapur's successors.1
The sources of our information about the life, doctrines, and writings of Manes are both Eastern and Western, and since
1 Hormuzd, Bahram I or Bahrain II (see Noldeke's Qcsch. d. Sasan,, p. 47, n. 5 ad calc.).
THE MANICHJEANS 155
the former (notably the Fihrist, a/-Btrunit Ibn Wadih al- Ta'qiibi and Shahrhtanl J) have been made accessible, it has
been generally recognised that the information ^w£kdge0<5r which they yield us is of a more reliable character Ma"yttemd hU tnan tnat contained in the writings of St. Augustine,
the Acts of Archelaus, &c., on which the older European accounts of this remarkable man are entirely based. As considerations of space render it impossible to devote more than a few pages to this topic, which will be found fully discussed in the books cited at the end of the last note, we will first give a translation of al-Ya'qubi's account of the life and doctrines of Manes (this being the only one of the four Arabic authorities above enumerated which is not at present accessible in a European translation), and then add such few remarks as may appear necessary for the further elucidation of the outlines of the subject.
Al-Ya'qubi says : —
"And in the days of Shapur the son of Ardashir appeared Mani the Zindiq, the son of Hammad, who invited Shapur to Dualism and cast censure upon his religion (i.e., Zoroastrianism). Ai-Ya'qubi's And Shapur inclined to him. And Mani said that the Manes. Controller of the Universe was twofold, and that there were two Eternal Principles, Light and Darkness, two Creators, the Creator of Good and the Creator of Evil. The Dark- ness and the Light, each one of them, connotes in itself five ideas, Colour, Taste, Smell, Touch, and Sound, whereby these two do hear, see, and know ; and what is good and beneficial is from the Light, while what is hurtful and calamitous is from the Darkness.
" Now these two [principles] were [at first] unmixed, then they became mixed ; and the proof of this is that there was [at first] no
1 Fihnst (composed A.D. 987), ed. Fliigel, pp. 328-338, and the same with German translation, introduction, and notes, also by Fliigel (1862) ; al-Biruni's Chronology, translated by Sachau, pp. 27, 80, 121, 189, 191, 225, 329 ; Ibn Wddih, ed. Houtsma, vol. i, pp. 180-182 ; Shahrisidni, trans- lated into German by Haarbrucker, i, pp. 285-291. See also, besides Beausobre (1734) and Mosheim, Baur, Kessler, and Spiegel's Erdnischc Altcrthiunskundc, vol. ii, pp. 195-232.
156 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
phenomenon, then afterwards phenomena were produced. And the Darkness anticipated the Light in this admixture, for they were [at first] in mutual contact like the shadow and the sun ; and the proof of this is the impossibility of the production of anything save from something else. And the Darkness anticipated the Light in admix- ture, because, since the admixture of the Darkness with the Light was injurious to the latter, it is impossible that the Light should have made the first beginning [therein] ; for the Light is by its nature the Good. And the proof that these two, Good and Evil, were eternal, is that if one substance be posited, two opposite actions will not proceed from it Thus, for example, Fire [which is], hot and burning, cannot refrigerate, while that which refrigerates cannot heat ; and that wherefrom good results cannot produce evil, while from that which produces evil good cannot result. And the proof that these two principles are living and active is that good results from the action of this, and evil from the action of that.
" So Shapur accepted this doctrine from him, and urged his subjects to do the same. And this thing was grievous unto them, and the wise men from amongst the people of his kingdom united in dissuading him from this, but he did not do [what they demanded] . And Mani composed books wherein he affirmed the Two Principles ; and of his writings was the book which he entitled Kanzyu'l Ihyd (' the Treasure of Vivification/ ) * wherein he describes what of salvation wrought by the Light and of corruption wrought by the Darkness exists in the soul, and refers reprehensible actions to the Darkness ; and a book which he named Shdburqdn, wherein he describes the delivered soul and that which is mingled with the devils and with defects, and makes out heaven to be a flat surface, and asserts that the world is on a sloping moun- tain on which the high heaven revolves ; and a book which he named Kiidbu'l-Hudd wat-Tadbir ('the Book of Guidance and Administration'), and the 'Twelve Gospels,' whereof he named each after one of the letters of the alphabet, and described Prayer, and what must be done for the deliverance of the soul ; and the Sifru'l- Asrdr (' Book of Secrets'), 2 wherein he finds fault with the miracles of the prophets ; and the Sifni'l-Jabdbira (' Book of the Giants ') ; besides which he has many other books and epistles.
" So Shapur continued in this doctrine for some ten years. Then the Miibadh (Fire-priest) came to him and said, ' This man hath
1 See Fliigel's Mani, n. 324, Qtjaavpbe ZUTJG.
3 See Flugel, op. cit., pp. 102-103, where the contents of this book are briefly stated from the Fihrist. It contained eighteen chapters.
THE MANICHJEANS 157
corrupted thy religion ; confront me with him, that I may dispute with him.' So he confronted them, and the Mvibadh bested him in argument, and Shapiir returned from Dualism to the Magian religion, and resolved to put Mani to death, but he fled away and came to the lands of India, where he abode until Shapiir died.
"Then Shapur was succeeded by his son Hurmuz, a valiant man ; and he it was who built the city of Ram- Hurmuz, but his days were not prolonged. He reigned one year.
"Then reigned Bahram the son of Hurmuz, who concerned him- self [only] with his minions and amusements. And Mani's disciples wrote to him, saying, ' There hath succeeded to the throne a King youn« in years, greatly preoccupied [with his amusements].' So he returned to the land of Persia, and his doings became noised abroad, and his place [of abode] became known. Then Bahram summoned him and questioned him concerning his doctrine, and he related to him his circumstances. Then [Bahram] confronted him with the Mubadh, who disputed with him, and said, ' Let molten lead be poured on my belly and on thine, and whichever of us shall be unhurt thereby, he will be in the right.'1 But [Mani] replied, ' This is a deed of the Darkness.' So Bahram ordered him to be imprisoned, and said to him, ' When morning comes I will send for thee and will slay thee in such wise as none hath been slain before thee.'
" So all that night Mani was being flayed, until his spirit departed [from his body]. And when it was morning, Bahram sent for him, and they found him [already] dead. So he ordered his head to be cut off, and his body to be stuffed with straw ; and he persecuted his followers and slew of them a great multitude. And Bahram the son of Hurmuzd reigned three years."
The account of Mani given in the Fihrist is much fuller, but as it is accessible to all who read German in Fliigel's translation, only a few important points will here be mentioned. His father's name is given as Futtaq (the arabicised form of a Persian name, probably Pataka, represented by Western writers as Ilcm'iaoe, Patecius, Phatecius, and Patricius), and he was a
1 This " molten brass ordeal " is repeatedly mentioned both in the Pahlawi and Arabic books. Amongst the former, see Haug's ed. and translation of the Arda Virdf Ndmak, p. 144, especially the passages from the Dinkard cited in the note ; and also the Shikand Gumdnik Vtjdr (ed. West), p. xii. Amongst the latter, see al-Qazwini's Athdru'l-Bildd, p. 267. The test is also said to have been proposed to Manes in the Persian Tdrikh-i-Guzida (Cambridge MS. marked Dd. 3. 23, f. 450).
158 THE S AS AN/ AN PERIOD
native of Hamadan, but migrated thence to Babylonia (Badaraya and Bakusaya) and joined himself to the Mughtasila, a sect closely akin to the Mandaeans, from whom Mani pro- bably derived his hatred both of the Jewish religion and also of idolatry. His mother's name is variously given as Mar Maryam, Utakhim and Mays, and it is at least possible that she was of the race of the Ashghanis, or Parthian royal family, which, if true, would afford another ground for the mistrust entertained towards him by the Sasanian kings. He was born, according to his own statement in the book called Shaburqdn, cited by al-Biruni, in A.D. 215 or 216, and was deformed by a limp in one leg. Before his birth the Angel Tawm made known to his mother his high mission in dreams, but he only began to receive revelations at the age of twelve (or thirteen, A.D. 227-8, according to al-Biruni), and not till he reached the age of twenty-four was he commissioned to make known his doctrine. His public announcement of his claims is said to have been solemnly made before King Shapur on the day of his coronation, March 20, A.D. 242, and it was probably through the King's brother Piruz, whom he had converted to his doctrines, that he succeeded in obtaining admission on so great an occasion of state. His long journeyings in India and the East probably followed his loss of the King's favour. That his ultimate return to Persia and barbarous execution took place during the short reign of Bahrain I (A.D. 273-6), is asserted by al-Biruni, al-Ya'qubi, and Tabari.
" Manichaeanism," says the first (Sachau's translation, p. 191), "increased by degrees under Ardashir, his son Shapur, and Hurmuzd son of Shapur, until the time when Bahrain the son of Hurmuzd ascended the throne. He gave orders to search for Man1', and when he had found him, he said : ' This man has come forward calling people to destroy the world. It will be necessary to begin by destroying him, before anything of his plans should be realised.' It is well known that he killed Mani, stripped off his skin, filled it with grass, and hung it up at the gate of Utnde-Shapur, which is still known as the Gate of Manes. Hurmuzd also killed a "number of the
THE MANICHAEANS 159
Manichasans. ... I have heard the Ispahbadh Marzuban the son of Rustam say that Shapiir banished him out of his empire, faithful to the Law of Zoroaster which demands the expulsion of pseudo- prophets from the country. He imposed on him the obligation never to return. So Mani went off to India, China, and Thibet, and there preached his gospel. Afterwards he returned, and was seized by Bahram and put to death for having broken the stipulation, whereby he had forfeited his life."
What, now, was this " gospel " which so aroused the enmity of the Zoroastrian priesthood, and which (to speak of the East only) was still so active in the latter part of the eighth century, that the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdf appointed a special inquisitor, called Sahibu (or lArlfu] z^-Zan^diqa^ to detect and punish those who, under the outward garb of Islam, held the doctrines of the Manichxans or Zindiqs ? And what was the exact meaning of this term Zindiq, which, originally used to denote the Manichaeans, was gradually, and is still, applied to all atheists and heretics in Muhammadan countries ?
Let us take the last inquiry first, as that which may be most briefly answered. The ordinary explanation is that the term Zandik is a Persian adjective meaning " one who Mt«minzgindiqhe follows the Zand" or traditional explanation (see pp. 78-9 supra] in preference to the Sacred Text, and that the Manichaeans were so called because of their dis- position to interpret and explain the scriptures of other religions in accordance with their own ideas, by a process akin to the yvwmg of the gnostics and the tawll of the later Isma'ilfs.1 But Professor Eevan has proposed a much more probable explanation. We know from the Fihrist (Fliigel's Manly p. 64) and al-Elrl.nl (transl. Sachau, p. 190) that while the term Sammfr ("Listener," "Auditor") was applied to the lower grades of Manichaeans, who did not wish to take upon them all the obligations concerning poverty, celibacy, and
1 The term Zandikih occurs in the Mainyo-i-Khard (ed. West, 1871, ch. xxxvi, p. 37), and is explained as " thinking well of the devils " (pp. 22-23).
160 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
mortification imposed by the religion, the "saints and ascetics" amongst them, who were commanded " to prefer poverty to riches, to suppress cupidity and lust, to abandon the world, to be abstinent in it, continually to fast, and to give alms as much as possible," were called Siddlq, " the Faithful " (pi. Siddlqiirf). This word is Arabic, but the original Aramaic form was probably Saddlqai, which in Persian became Zandik, the replacement of the dd by nd finding its parallel in the Persian shanbadh (modern shanba) for Sabbath^ and the conversion of the Sanskrit Siddhdnta into Sindhind. According to this view, Zandlk (Arabicised into Zlndlq] is merely the Persianised form of the Aramaic name applied to the fully initiated Manichaeans, and, primarily applied to that sect exclusively, was only later used in the sense of " heretic " in general. An interesting parallel, as Professor Bevan points out, is supplied by the derivation of the German Ketzer, " heretic," from KaOapoi, "the pure." '
The Manichaeans, as we have seen, like the followers of Marcion and Bardesanes, were reckoned by Muhammadan writers amongst the "Dualists." But since the DMa^cha:anshe Zoroastrian religion is also essentially dualistic, whence arose the violent antagonism between it and the Manichaean doctrine ? The answer is not far to seek. In the former the Good and the Evil Creation, the realm of Ahura Mazda and that of Anra Mainyush (Ahriman), each comprised a spiritual and a material part. Not only the Amshaspands and Angels, but also the material elements and all animals and plants useful to man, and of mankind those who held " the Good Religion," fought on the side of Ahura Mazda against the dlvs and drujes, the khrafstars, or noxious animals, the witches and warlocks, the misbelievers and heretics, who constituted the hosts of Ahriman. In general the Zoroastrian religion, for all its elaborately systematised Spiritual Hierarchies,
1 Cf. C. Schmidt's Hist, et doctrine de la Secte des Cathares ou Albigeois (Paris, 1849).
THE MANICHJSANS 161.
presents itself as an essentially material religion, in the sense that it encouraged its followers to " be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth," and to " sow the seed and reap the harvest with enduring toil." * According to the Manichaean view, on the other hand, the admixture of the Light and the Darkness which gave rise to the material universe was essentially evil, and a result of the activity of the Powers of Evil ; it was only good in so far as it afforded a means of escape and return to its proper sphere to that portion of the Light ("Jesus patibilis " : see Spiegel, Eran. Alt., ii, p. 226), which had become entangled in the darkness ; and when this deliverance was, so far as possible, effected, the angels who supported the heavens and upheld the earth would relax their hold, the whole material universe would collapse, and the Final Conflagration would mark the Redemption of the Light and its final dissociation from the irredeemable and indestructible Darkness. Meanwhile, by the " Column of Praise " (consisting of the prayers, doxologies and good works of the faithful ascending up to Heaven, and visible as the Milky Way 2), the particles of Light, set free from their imprisonment in the Darkness, ascend upwards, and are ferried across by the Sun and Moon to the " Paradise of Light," which is their proper home. All that tends to the prolongation of this state of admixture of Light and Darkness, such as marriage and the begetting of children, is consequently regarded by Manes and his followers as evil and reprehensible, and thus we see what King Hurmuz meant by the words, " This man has come forward calling people to destroy the world." Zoroastrianism was national, militant, materialistic, imperialist ; Manichaeanism, cosmopolitan, quietist, ascetic, unworldly ; the two systems stood in essential antagonism, and, for all their external resemblances (fully
1 Cf. Darmesteter's English translation of the Avesta, in S. B, E.t vol. i, p. 46, and n. i ad calc. on Fargard iv, 47.
2 See Fliigel's Mdni, p. 231 ; Spiegel's Eran. Alterlhumskunde, vol, ii, p. 217.
12
162 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
indicated by Spiegel in his Eranhche Alterihumskunde, vol. ii, pp. 195-232), were inevitably hostile and radically opposed. In the case of Judaism, orthodox Christianity and Islam, the antagonism was equally great, and if the Manichaeans suffered less at the hands of the Jews than of the other three religions, it was the power rather than the will which these lacked, since, as we have seen, Judaism was held by Manes in particular abhorrence.
Into the details of the Manichaean doctrine — the causes which led to the admixture of the Darkness and the Light ; their theories concerning the "King of the Paradises of Light," the Primal Man, the Devil, and the mechanism of the material universe as a means for liberating the Light from its captivity ; and their grotesque beliefs concerning Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Hakimatud-Dahr (" the World-wise ") and Ibnatu'l- Hlrs ("the Daughter of Desire"), Rawfaryad, Barfaryad, and Shathil (Seth), and the like, — it is not possible to enter in this place. As a set-off against their rejection of the Hebrew prophets the Manichaeans recognised not only Zoroaster and Buddha as divine messengers, but also Christ, though here they distinguished between the True Christ, who was, in their view, an Apparition from the World of Light clad in a merely phan- tasmal body, and His counterpart and antagonist, " the Son of the Widow " who was crucified. It is a curious thing that this belief of the Manichaeans was adopted by Muhammad : in the Qur'an (sura iv, v. 156) it is written : —
"And for their saying, ' Verily we slew the Messiah, Jesus the Son oj Mary, the Apostle of God ; ' but they did not slay Him or crucify Him, but the matter was made doubtful to them [or, a similitude was made for them]. And verily those who differ about Him are in doubt con- cerning Him; they have no knowledge concerning Him, but only follow an opinion. They did not kill Him, for sure ! but God raised Him up unto Himself; for God is mighty and wise 1 "
As regards the history of the Manichaeans in the East, we have already mentioned that during the Caliphate of al-Mahdi
THE MANICHAEANS 163
(A.D. 775-785), the father of Harunu 'r-Rashid,
Progress of \ . _
Manichzanism they were so numerous that a special Inquisitor
in the East. . l
was appointed to detect and destroy them. The author of the Fihrlst (A.D. 988) knew 300 professed Mani- chasans at Baghdad alone, and al-Birum (A.D. 1000) was familiar with their books, especially the Shdburqdn (the one book composed by Manes in Persian, i.e. Pahlawi ; for the other six of his principal writings were in Syriac) which he cites in several places, including the opening words (Sachau's transla- tion, p. 190), which run thus : —
" Wisdom and deeds have always jrom time to time been brought
to mankind by the messengers of God. So in one age they have been
Citation from brought by the messenger of God called Buddha to India,
one of the books jn another by Zoroaster to Persia, in another by Jesus to
the West. Thereafter this revelation has come do-van, this
prophecy in this last age, through me, Mdni, the Messenger of the
God of Truth to Babylonia."
The migrations of the Manichaeans are thus described in the Fihrist : —
" The Manichaeans were the first religious community to enter the lands of Transoxiana beside the Shamanists. The reason of this was that when the Kisra (Bahrain) slew Mani and crucified him> and forbade the people of his Kingdom to dispute about religion, he took to killing the followers of Mani wherever he found them, wherefore they continued to flee before him until they crossed the river of Balkh and entered the dominions of the Khaqan (or Khan), with whom they abode. Now Khaqan (or Khan) in their tongue is a title conferred by them on the King of the Turks. So the Manichaeans settled in Transoxiaua until such time as the power of the Persians was broken and that of the Arabs waxed strong, whereupon they returned to these lands ('Iraq, or Babylonia), especially during the break up of the Persian Empire and the days of the Umayyad kings. Khalid b. 'Abdu'llah al-Qasri • took them under his protection, but
1 A powerful protector of the Manichaeans, put to death by the Caliph al-Walid in A.D. 743. See Flugel's Mdni, pp. 320-322.
164 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
the leadership [of the sect] was not conferred save in Babylonia, in these lands, after which the leader would depart into whatever land would afford him most security. Their last migration took place in the days of al-Muqtadir (A.D. 908-932), when they retired to Khurasan for fear of their lives, while such as remained of them concealed their religion, and wandered through these regions. About five hundred men of them collected at Samarqand, and their doctrines became known. The governor of Khurasan would have slain them, but the King of China (by whom I suspect the ruler of the Taghazghaz to be meant) sent unto him saying, ' There are in my domains double the number of Muhammadans that there are in thine of my co-religionists,' and swearing to him that should he kill one of the latter, he would slay the whole of the former to avenge him, and would destroy the mosques, and would establish an inquisition against the Muhammadans in the rest of his dominions and slay them. So the Governor of Khurasan let them alone, only taking from them the jizya (poll-tax on non-Muslims). So they diminished in numbers in the lands of Islam ; but in the City of Peace (Baghdad) I used to know some three hundred of them in the days of Mu'izzu'd-Dawla (A.D. 946-967). But in these our days there are not five of them left at the capital. And these people are named Ajari, and they reside in the suburbs of Samarqand, Sughd, and especially Nuwikath."
Of those who, while outwardly professing Islam, were really Manichaeans, the author of the Fihrlst gives a long list, which
includes al-Ja'd b. Dirham, who was put to death . •£££" by the Umayyad Caliph Hisham (A.D. 724-743) J
the poet Bashshar b. Burd, put to death in A.D. 784 ; nearly all the Barmecides, except Muhammad b. Khalid b. Barmak ; the Caliph al-Ma'mun (A.D. 813-833), but this is not credited by the author ; Muhammad ibnu'z- Zayyat, the Wazir of al-Mu'tasim, put to death in A.D. 847 ; and others.
The Manichaeans were divided into five grades — the
Mttallimun or Teachers, called " the Sons of
Duties imposed _, , „ , _ . ....
on the Mani- 1 cndcrness ; the Mushammasun or those illumi- nated by the Sun,1 called " the Sons of Know- ledge "; the ^isshun or priests, called "the Sons of Under- 1 See Flugel's Mdni, pp. 294-299. The meaning is uncertain.
THE MANICH^EANS 165
standing " ; the Siddiqun or faithful, called " the Sons of the Unseen " ; and the Sammd'un or hearers, called " the Sons of Intelligence." They were commanded to perform the four or the seven prayers, and to abandon idol-worship, falsehood, covetousness, murder, fornication, theft, the teaching and study of all arts of deception and magic, hypocrisy in religion and lukewarmness in daily life. To these ten commandments were added : belief in the four Supreme Essences : to wit, God (" the King of the Paradises of Light "), His Light, His Power, and His Wisdom ; fasting for seven days in each month ; and the acceptance of " the three seals," called by St. Augustine and other Christian writers the signacula oris, manuum et sinus, typifying the renunciation of evil words, evil deeds, and evil thoughts, and corresponding to the hukht, huvarsht, and humat (good words, good deeds, and good thoughts) of the Zoroastrian religion. Details of the fasts and prayers, and some of the formulas used in the latter, are also given in the Fihristy from which we also learn something of the schisms which arose after Mani's time as to the Spiritual Supremacy, the chief divisions being the Mihriyya and the Miqlasiyya. The seven books of Man! (of which, as has been already said, six were in Syriac and one — the Shaburqan — in Pahlawi) were written in a peculiar script invented by their author and invented by reproduced (in a form greatly corrupted and disfigured in the existing MSS.) by the Fihrist. To this script, and to the art of writing in general, the Manichaeans (like the modern Babis, who, as is well known, have also invented a script peculiar to themselves called khatt-i-badl^ "the New Writing") would appear to have devoted much attention, for al-Jahidh (ninth century) cites Ibrahim as-Sindi as saying that " it would be well if they were to spend less on the whitest, finest paper and the blackest ink, and on the training of calligraphists." From this, as Professor Bevan conjectures, arose the idea of Mani as a skilful painter which is prevalent in
166 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
\ Persia, where it is generally believed that he produced a picture- 1 book called the Arzhan^ or Arianp* to which he appealed (as Muhammad appealed to the £>ur'dn) as a proof of his super- natural power and divine mission.1
3. N&shlrwdn and Mazdak.
"I was born," the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, "in the reign of the Just King," meaning thereby Khusraw Anushak-rubdn (" of Immortal Spirit "), ^jifshirwdn! wno ls stiM spoken of by the Persians as " Nushir- wan the Just " and regarded as the perfect type of kingly virtue. We have already seen that this verdict cannot be accepted without reserve, and that Nushirwan's vigorous measures against heretics rather than his justice (in our sense of the term) won him the applause and approval of the Magian priests by whose hands the national chronicles were shaped ; just as the slur which rests on the name of the first Yazdigird (called Baza-gar, " the Sinner ") is to be ascribed rather to his tolerance of other religions and his indifference to the Zoroastrian clergy than to any special wickedness of life. Yet Nushirwan, though severe on heretics whose activity threatened the welfare of the State, was by no means a fanatic, but on the contrary interested himself greatly in foreign religions and philosophies. In this respect he reminds us of the Caliph at Ma'mun and the Emperor Akbar, both of whom took the same delight in religious and philosophical controversies and speculations. Noldeke (Gesch d. Sasaniden, p. 150, n. 3 ad calc.), who is by no means disposed to look favourably on the Persians, gives, on the whole, a very favourable summary of his character, which he concludes in the following words : " On the whole Khusraw (Nushirwan) is certainly one of the greatest and best kings whom the Persians ever possessed, which, however, did not prevent him from being capable of
1 Cf. Shdhndma, ed. Macan, vol. iii, pp. 1453-1454.
MAZDAK 167
reckless cruelty, nor from having little more regard for the truth than the Persians, even the best, are wont to have." His suppression of the Mazdakites, his successful campaigns against the " Romans " (Byzantines), his wise laws, his care for the national defences, and the prosperity enjoyed by the Persian Empire during his reign (A.D. 531-578) all conduced to the high reputation which he enjoys in the East as an
ideal monarch ; while his reception of the seven
Phii?srphte0rslstat Greek philosophers, expelled from their native
Ndshfrwdnf kmd ty tne intolerance of the Emperor Justinian,
and his insertion of a special clause in their favour (whereby they were guaranteed toleration and freedom from interference on their return thither) in a treaty which he concluded with the Byzantines at the close of a successful war, as well as his love of knowledge, exemplified not only by his patronage of learned men, but by the establishment ofj a gre^t jnedical school at Junde-Shap_ur, and by the numerous translations from Qreek and Sanskrit into Pahlawi_gx_ecuted by I his orders, caused it to be believed, even in the West, " that a| disciple of Plato was seated on the Persian throne." *
The importance of the visit to the Persian Court of the Neo-Platonist philosophers mentioned above has, I think,
hardly been sufficiently emphasised. How much '"xe^piatonist0' the later mysticism of the Persians, the doctrine idaet1hrsepocrhsia of the Sufis, which will be fully discussed in a
later chapter, owes to Neo-Platonism, is beginning to be recognised, and has been admirably illustrated by my friend and former pupil Mr. R. A. Nicholson, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in his Selected Poems from the Dlv&n of Shams-i-Tabriz (Cambridge,' 1898) ; nor, if Darmesteter's views be correct, did Zoroastrianism disdain to draw materials from the same source. The great historical introduction of Greek philosophical and scientific ideas into
1 See the excellent account of Nushirwan given by Gibbon (Decline and Fall, ed. 1813, vol. vii, pp. 298-307).
168 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
the East took place, as is well known, during the early 'Abbasid period, especially during the reign of Harunu'r- Rashfd's son al-Ma'mun (A.D. 813-833), but it is exceedingly probable (though, owing to the loss of the great bulk of Pahlawi literature, especially the non-religious portion, it cannot be proved) that already in the sixth century, during the reign of Nushirwan, this importation had begun, and that the beginnings of the Sufi doctrines, as of so many others, may in reality go back beyond the Muhammadan to the Sasanian times. As regards the Christians, Nushirwan's contempt for their pacific doctrines and vexation at the rebellious behaviour of his son Anusha-zadh (see p. 136 supra] did not prevent him from according certain privileges to the dangerous and often disloyal Monophysites,1 or from accepting in one of his treaties with the Byzantine Emperor certain stipulations in favour of the Catholics ; 2 nay, it was even asserted by Euagrius and Sebeos J that he was privately baptized before his death, which statement, though certainly false, shows that he was generally regarded as favourably disposed towards the Christians, who, as Noldeke remarks, gave a touching proof of their gratitude for his favours a century later when they would not suffer the remains of his unfortunate descendant Yazdigird III, the last ruler of the House of Sasan, to lie unburied. Such toleration, however, was always subject to considerations of the safety of the State and the order of social life, both of which were threatened by the doctrines of the communist Mazdak, of whom we shall now speak.
The evidence which has come down to us concerning this remarkable man has been carefully collected by Noldeke 3 in
1 See Noldeke, Gesch, d. Sasaniden, p. 162 ad calc.
a Gibbon, op. cit., p. 305, n. 52 ad calc.
s See also a more popular account by the same scholar in the Deutsche Rundschau for February, 1879, pp. 284 et seqq.
The most ancient and authentic notices of, or references to, Mazdak are as follows : —
MAZDAK 169
the fourth Excursus (Ueber Mazdaf^ und die Mazdafyen^ pp. 455-467) appended to his admirable History of the Sasdnians,
which we have already had occasion to cite so fre- communiat quently. It must naturally be borne in mind that
this rests entirely on the statements of persons (whether Zoroastrian or Christian) who were bitterly opposed to his teaching, and that if the case for the defence had been preserved we might find favourable features, or at least extenu-
(i) In the Pahlawi translation of the Vendidad, Fargard iv, v. 49, the words of the Avesta text, " it is this man who can strive against the ungodly
Sources of Ashemaogha" (i.e., "fiend" or "heretic") "who does not information: eat," are illustrated by the gloss "like Mazdak, son of
i. Pahlawi. Bamd£dh . » while other references to the " accursed Mazdak " occur in the Bahman Yasht, which, however, is one of the latest products of Pahlawi literature, and is, in its extant form, referred by West to about the twelfth century of our era. There also existed a Pahlawi tfazdak-ndmqk, or " Boofc oj JtffV^V which was one of the numerous Pahlawi workTTranslaled into Arabic by Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', but this, unfor- tunately, jgjost, though its contents are to some extent preserved by other Arabic wriiersT
(ii) In Greek references to Mazdak occur in the works of ' Procopius, Theophanes, and John Malalas.
(iii) In Syriac, in the Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite (Wright's ed. and
transl., § xx), who speaks of King Kawad's "evil conduct"
in re-establishing " the abominable sect of the Magi which
is called that of the Zaradushtakan, which teaches that women should be
in common. . . ."
(iv) In Arabic, accounts of Mazdak are given by al-Ya'qubi (c. A.H. 260 , ed. Houtsma, vol. i, p. 186), who mentions that he and his master Zaratusht Khurragan were put to death by Anushirwan ; Ibn Qittayba (t A.H. 270-276; Kitdbu'l-Ma'drif, ed. Wustenfeld, 1850, p. 328) ; Dinawari (f A.H. 282-290 ; ed. Guirgass, p. 69) ; Tabari (fA.H. 310 ; ed. de Goeje, Series I, vol. ii, pp. 885-886 = Noldeke's transl., pp. 140-144 ; pp. 893-894 = Noldeke, pp. 154-155) ; Hamza of Isfahan (early fourth century of Hijra) ; Eutychius (f A.H. 328) ; Mas'udi (f A.H. 346 ; Muruju' dh-Dhahab, ed. B. de Meynard, vol. ii, pp. 195-196) ; al-Biruni (t A.H. 440 ; Sachau's translation, p. 192) ; Shahristdni (f A.H. 548 ; Kitdbu'l- milal, ed. Cureton, pp. 192-194 = Haarbrucker's transl., pp. 291-293) ; Ibnu-'l-Athir (f A.H. 630) ; Abu'l-Fidd (f A.H. 732 ; ed. Fleischer, pp. 88-91), and other historians.
(v) In Persian, the narratives in the Shdhndma of Firdawsi (ed. Macan, vol. iii, pp. 1611-1616), and the Siydsal-ndma of the Nidhdmu'l-Mulk (ed, Schefer, pp. 166-181) deserve especial mention.
170 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
ating circumstances, of which we now know nothing. What, for example, to take an analogous case from modern times, would be our judgment of the Babis if we depended solely on the highly-coloured and malicious presentations of their doctrines and practices contained in such official chronicles as the Ndsifyu lt- Tawarlfy of the court-historian Lisanul-Mulf^ or of the talented Riza-quli Khan's supplement to the Rawzatifs-Safd^or even of presumably unprejudiced Europeans who were dependent for their information on the accouuts current in court circles ? In this connection it is worthy of remark that the charges of communism and antinomianism, especially in what concerns the relation of the sexes, were those most frequently brought alike against the Mazdakites of the sixth and the Babis of the nineteenth century by their opponents ; and since we now know that the alleged com- munism of the early Babis, so far as it existed at all, was merely incidental, as in the similar case of the early Christians, and cannot be regarded as in any sense a characteristic of their doctrines, we cannot avoid a suspicion that the same thing holds true in some degree of Mazdak and his followers.
Whether Mazdak himself originated the doctrines associated
with his name is doubtful, a certain Zaradusht the son of
Khurragan, of Fasa in the province of Fars, being
Doctrines of mentioned in some of the sources as their real
Mazdak.
author. Of the theoretical basis of this doctrine we know much less than of its practical outcome, but Noldeke well remarks that " what sharply distinguishes it from modern Communism and Socialism (so far as these show themselves, not in the dreams of individuals, but in actual parties), is its religious character." All evils, in Mazdak's view, were to be attributed to the demons of Envy, Wrath, and Greed, who had destroyed the equality of mankind decreed and desired by God, which equality it was his aim to restore. The ascetic element which has been already noticed (p. 161 supra] as one of the features of Manichaeanism to which the Zoroastrians so
MAZDAK 171
strongly objected also appears in the religion of Mazdak in the prohibition of shedding blood and eating meat. Indeed, as we have already seen (p. 169 n. I ad calc.\ to the Zoroas- trian theologians Mazdak was par excellence " the ungodly Ashemaogha who does not eat."
• For political reasons, of which, according to Noldeke's view, the chief was a desire to curb the excessive power of the priests
and nobles, King Kawadh (or Qubad) favoured the SeVazdaklt«f new Doctrine > an action which led to his temporary
deposition in favour of his brother Jamasp. This untoward event probably produced a considerable alteration in his feelings towards the new sect, and the balance of testimony
places in the last years of his reign that wholesale
Massacre of the ' . . . . .
Mazdak-ites (A.D. slaughter of the Mazdakites with which, in the popular legend, Khusraw the First is credited, and by which he is said to have earned his title of Nushfrwan (Anushafcruban, "Of Immortal Spirit"). According to the current account (given in its fullest form in the SiyAsat-nAma of the Nidhamu'1-Mulk (ed. Schefer, pp. 166-181 ; transl. pp. 245- 266), Prince Nushirwan, after exposing the evil designs and juggler's tricks of Mazdak to his father King Kawadh, deceived the heresiarch by a feigned submission, and fixed a day when, in presence of all the Mazdakites, he would make formal and public profession of the new doctrine. Invitations were issued to the Mazdakites to a great banquet which the prince would provide in one of the royal gardens ; but as each group entered the garden they were seized by soldiers who lay in wait for them, slain, and buried head downwards in the earth with their feet protruding. When all had been thus disposed of, N ushirwan invited Mazdak, whom he had himself received in private audience, to take a walk with him through the garden before the banquet, and to inspect the produce thereof. " On entering the garden, " Behold," said the prince, pointing to the upturned feet of the dead heretics, " the crop which your evil doctrines have brought forth ! " Therewith he made a sign, and Mazdak
172 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
was at once seized, bound and buried alive head downwards in
the midst of a large mound of earth specially prepared for him
in the middle of the garden. A contemporary
contemporary account of the massacre by an eyewitness.
testimony. * '
Timotheus the Persian, has been preserved to us by Theophanes and John Malalas. The presence at this horrible scene of the Christian bishop Bazanes, who was also the King's physician, finds a curious parallel in recent times, for Dr. Polak, court-physician to the late Nasiru'd-Dm Shah, was present at the cruel execution of the beautiful Babi heroine Qurratu'l-'Ayn in 1852.
However great the number of Mazdakites who perished in this massacre (which took place at the end of A.D. 528, or
the beginning of 520) may have been, the sect
Subsequent his- .
tory of the can hardly have been exterminated in a day. and
Mazdakites. '
there are reasons for believing that a fresh perse- cution took place soon after Nushirwan's accession to the throne (A.D. 531). After that, even, the sect,though no longer manifest, propably continued to exist in secret ; nor is it unlikely that, as is suggested by some Muhammadan writers, its doctrines, like those of the Manichaeans, passed over into Muhammadan times, and were reproduced more or less faith- fully by some of those strange antinomian sects of later days which will demand our attention in future chapters. This view is most strongly advanced by the celebrated Nizamu'l- Mulk, who, in his Treatise on Government [Siydsat-nAma] endeavours at great length to show that the Isma'ilis and Assassins towards whom he entertained so violent an antipathy (amply justified in the event by his assassination at their hands on October 14, 1092) were the direct descendants of the Mazdakites.
4. The Decline and Fall of the Home of Sas&n. In the long and glorious reign of Nushlrwan (A.D. 531-578),
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SAsAN 173
no year, perhaps, was so memorable, or so fraught with conse- quences of deep and unsuspected importance, as the forty-second (A.D. 572-3), called by the Arabs " the Year of the
"TEteYhant"thc ElePnant-" In tms yearj on tne one hand, culmi- nated a long series of events which led to the annexa- tion by Persia of the rich and ancient kingdom of Yaman, an acquisition which might well arouse the enthusiasm and awaken the plaudits of the Persian imperialists of that epoch ; while in it, on the other hand, was born in distant Mecca one whose teaching was destined to overthrow the House of Sasan and the religion of Zoroaster, the Prophet Muhammad. On the night of his birth, according to the legends so dear to pious Muslims, the Palace of the Persian King was shaken by an earthquake, so that fourteen of its battlements fell rrnSram^o to tne ground ; the Sacred Fire, which had burned thEmpire!''n continuously for a thousand years, was extin- guished ; and the Lake of Sawa suddenly dried up ; while the chief priest of the Zoroastrians saw in a dream the West of Persia overrun by Arabian camels and horses from across the Tigris. At these portents Nushirwan was greatly troubled, nor was his trouble dispelled by the oracular answer brought back by his messenger 'Abdu'l-Masih, a Christian Arab of the tribe of Ghassan, from his uncle, the aged Satih, who dwelt on the borders of the Syrian desert. This answer, conveyed in the rhyming rajaz regarded by the Arabian sooth- sayers (kahana) as the appropriate vehicle of their oracles, was couched in the following strain : —
"On a camel ' Abdu'l-Maslh hastens toward Satih, who to the
verge of the Tomb is already come. Thee hither doth bring the
command of the Sdsdnian King because the Palace
°In^of Sa$er~ hath leaked, and the Fire is slaked, and the Chief
Priest in his dream hath seen camels fierce and lean,
and horse-troops by them led over the Tigris bed through the
border marches spread.
" 0 'Abdu'l-Masih I When reading shall abound, and (he Man oj
174 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
the Staff1 be found and the hosts shall seethe in the Vale of Samdwa,* and dried up shall be the Lake of Sdwa, and the Holy Fire of Persia shall fail, no more for Satih shall Syria avail ! Yet to the number of the turrets 3 your kings and queens shall reign, and their empire retain, though that which is to come cometh amain I "
These tales of portent and presage must, however, be regarded rather as pious after-thoughts than as historical facts. The birth of the Arabian Prophet, like many another momentous event, was announced, we may be sure, by no such blare of celestial trumpets, and did not for a moment occupy the attention even of the men of Mecca, for whom the " Year of the Elephant " afforded ample food for thought and anxiety.
In the early part of the sixth century the political position of the Arabs was as follows. In the west the kingdom of Ghassan and in the east the kingdom of Hira acknow- ledged more or less the suzerainty of Byzan- Pt°onsofrtehe" tium and persia respectively. The bulk of the rixufcwitwy. Arabs of Central Arabia, secure in their deserts and broken up into numerous more or less hostile tribes, fought and sang and robbed and raided much as do the Bedouin of to-day, with little regard for the neighbouring states. In the south the rich and ancient kingdom of Yaman enjoyed, under its own Tubba's or kings, a larger measure of wealth, prosperity, and civilisation. The infamous usurper Lakhi'a, called Dhu Shandtir, met his well-merited doom at the hands of the young prince Dhu Nuwas, who — for since the days of
1 I.e., the Caliph 'Umar, in whose reign (AJX 634-644) the conquest of Persia was chiefly effected.
2 A place near Hira, in the neighbourhood of which was fought the fateful battle of Qadisiyya.
3 I.e., the fourteen turrets or battlements which, in Nushirwan's dream, fell from the palace. Nushirwan's fourteen successors are presumably to be reckoned as follows : (i) Hurmazd IV ; (2) Khusraw Parwiz ; (3) Shiru'e ; (4) Ardashir III ; (5) Shahrbaraz ; (6) Puran-dukht ; (7) Gushnaspdeh ? (8) Azarmi-dukht ; (9) Khusraw, son of Mihr-Gushnasp ; (10) Khurrazadh- Khusraw ; (n) Piruz, son of Gushnaspdeh; (12) Farrukhzadh-Khusraw ; (13) Hurmazd V ; (14) Yazdigird III.
THE CHRISTIANS OF NEJRAN 175
Bilqis Queen of Sheba regicide seems to have been regarded in South Arabia as the best title to the Crown — was by accla- mation elected king, the last king, as it proved in the event, of the old Himyarite stock.
Now Dhii Nuwas elected to turn Jew, and with the zeal of
a proselyte, proceeded to persecute the Christians of Nejran,
whom, on their refusal to embrace Judaism, he
Dhu Nuwis and sjew wjt}1 tne sworc[ burned and roasted in pits
the persecution
°f tofeNej'rinianS ^US ^or tne Purpose, and barbarously tortured in
other ways. To this event allusion is made in
sura Ixxxv of the Qur'an : " Death upon the People of the Pits,
of the Burning Fire, when they sat over them, watch-
' Tth pits'"5 °f 'm& w^at *hey did to the believers, against whom they
had no complaint save that they believed in God, the
Mighty, the Praiseworthy ! "
That, as stated by Tabari, 20,000 Christians perished in this persecution (A.D. 523) is, of course, incredible, the actual number of victims being probably not much more than a hundredth part of this ; but the news, brought by one of the fugitives, was horrible enough to stir the wrath of the Abyssinian Ab ssinian Christians, and to induce their ruler, the Nejashi COYemen°f or Negush, to send an army to avenge his co- religionists. This army, commanded by Aryat and Abraha, utterly defeated the Yamanites, and Dhu Nuwas, perceiving that all was lost, spurred his horse into the sea, and disappeared for ever from mortal ken. To this event the Himyarite poet Dhii Jadan refers in the following verses : —
"Gently! Can tears recall the things that are spent and sped f Fret thyself not with weeping for those who are lost and dead ! After Baynun,1 whereof nor stones nor traces remain, And after Silhin, shall man ere build such houses again f"
And again : — " Leave me, accursed shrew / For what can avail thy cries f
1 The names of two ancient castles, said to have been built by the Jinn for Queen Bilqis by command of Solomon.
176 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
Plague on thee ! Peace t In my throat thy scolding the spittle dries ! To the music of cithers and singers in bygone days 'twas fine When we drank our fill and revelled in royallest, ruddiest ivine t To drain the sparkling wine-cup I deem it, indeed, no shame, When it brings no act that a comrade and boon-companion can blame ; For Death is by no man cheated, the grave is the share of each, Though protection he seek of the perfumes and potions and drugs of
the leech !
The monk in his cloistered dwelling, which rears its fanes as high As the nest of the hawk and eagle, in vain would death deny. Thou hast heard, for sure, of Ghumddn,1 the house with the lofty roof, Which they built on a mountain-summit, from meaner dwellings aloof ; Crowned with the joiner's labour, with square-hewn stones for stay, Plastered without and within with clean, tough, slippery clay. With burden of dates half-ripened already the palm-trees seemed Ready to break, while the oil-lamps like summer lightning gleamed. Yet is this once-new Castle a pile of ashes to-day, And the lambent flames have eaten its beauty and form away. For Abu Nuwds, despairing, hath hastened to meet his death, Foretelling their pending troubles to his folk with his latest breath!"
Aryat, the Abyssinian conqueror of Yaman, did not, how-
ever, long survive to enjoy the fruits of victory, for he was
treacherously slain in a duel by his ambitious lieu-
b7Ab!£had tenant, Abraha, who, however, emerged from the
combat with a wound across his face which earned
for him the nickname of al-Ashram, " the split-nosed."
Now it pleased Abraha to build at San'a, the capital of Yaman, a great and splendid church, whereby he hoped to divert the stream of Arab pilgrims away from the Square Temple of Mecca. But the Arabs
murmured at his endeavour, and one of them, a soothsayer of the tribe of Fuqaym, entered the church by stealth and defiled it. Then Abraha was filled with wrath, swore to destroy the Temple of Mecca, and set out to execute his threat with his elephants of war and a vast host of Abys- sinians.
1 Another celebrated edifice, built by the architect Sinnimar, who was on the completion of his task slain by his employer lest he should produce some yet more wonderful monument of his skill.
"THE PEOPLE OF THE ELEPHANT" 177
While Abraha lay encamped at Mughammas, hard by the city of Mecca, he was visited by 'Abdu'l-Muttalib, the grand- father of the Prophet Muhammad, who was one of 'aShKaSS? the principal men of the Quraysh,that noble tribe to whom was specially entrusted the care of the Sanctuary. And Abraha, being well pleased with his manners and address, bade him through his interpreter crave a boon. "I desire," replied c Abdu'l-Muttalib, "that the King should restore to me two hundred camels which have been taken from me." " Thou speakest to me," answered Abraha in aston- ishment, "of two hundred camels which I have taken from thee, yet sayest naught of a Temple which is the Sanctuary of thee and thy fathers, and which I am come to destroy ! " 'Abdu'l-Muttalib's rejoinder is characteristically Arabian. "I am the master of the camels," said he, " but the Temple has its own Master, who will take care of it ; " and, on Abraha's remarking, " He cannot protect it against me ! " he added, " That remains to be seen ; only give me back my camels ! "
Having recovered his camels, 'Abdu'l-Muttalib withdrew with his associates to a mountain-top to await the event, but ere he retreated from Mecca he paid a visit to the Ka'ba, and, holding in his hand the great ring-knocker on the outer door, exclaimed : —
" Lord, in Thee alone 1 trust against them ! Lord, repel them from Thine Holy Land ! 'Tis the Temple's foe who fights against Thee : Save Thy town from his destroying hand I "
Next day Abraha prepared to carry out his threat, and
advanced with his army, at the head of which marched his
great elephant Mahmud, against Mecca. But as
TMaehm!idnt the elephant advanced, an Arab named Nufayl
came up to it, took hold of its ear, and cried,
'* Kneel down, O Mahmud, and return by the direct way
whereby thou earnest hither, for thou art on God's holy
ground ! " Thereat the elephant knelt down, and, notwith-
13
i;8 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
standing all their blows and stabs, refused to move a step against Mecca, though ready enough to go in any other direction.
Then God sent against the Abyssinians hosts of little birds like swallows — ababll^ as the Qur'an calls them — each of
which held three little stones or pellets of clay, ™bird3ab" one in its beak and two in its claws. These they
let fall on the Abyssinians, and whosoever was struck by them died, and so the great host was routed. One fugitive, they say, returned to Abyssinia to tell the tale, and when they asked him "What manner of birds were these ?'* he pointed up at one which still hovered over him. Even as he did so, the bird let fall the stone that it held, and he too was stricken dead.
Such are the events which gave their name to this momen- tous year, and to which allusion is made in the chapter of the Qur'an entitled the "Sura of the Elephant." "Hast thou not seen" it runs, " how thy Lord dealt with the people of the Elephant ? Did He not cause their plan to miscarry ? And made them like chaff consumed? "
The opinion which now generally prevails amongst Euro- pean scholars is that the above legend rests on a real basis of
fact, and that a sudden and virulent outbreak of "fthekgend!3 small-pox did actually decimate and put to rout
the impious invaders. Small wonder that the Arabs saw in this almost miraculous preservation of their Sanctuary the Manifest Power of God, and that the " Year of the Elephant " marked an epoch in the development of their national life.
But Yaman still groaned under the Abyssinian yoke, and Abraha of the split nose was succeeded in turn by his sons
Yaksum J and Masruq, whose hands were heavy
on the Himyarites, so that at length Sayf the son
of Dhu Yazan went forth as their ambassador to
1 One of his coins, figured by Riippell, bears, according to Gutschmid, the legend Ba<n\£uf 'lafafii, and on the other side the name of his suzerain
seek relief from one of the two great empires, the Byzantine and the Persian, which then divided the mastery of that region of the world. Meeting with no encouragement from the former, he induced Mundhir, the Arab King of Hira, to present him at the Persian Court. Nushirwan received him in his audience-hall, seated on his gorgeous throne, his head surmounted by, though not supporting, the gigantic barrel-like crown, glittering with rubies, emeralds, pearls, and other precious stones, supported by a chain from the roof, which was at once the glory and the oppression of the Sasanian kings.
" O King ! " said Sayf ibn Dhu Yazan, when he had pros- trated himself before this gorgeous apparition, "the Ravens have taken our land ! "
"Which Ravens? " inquired Nushirwan ; " those of Abyssinia or those of India ? "
"The Abyssinians," continued Sayf ; "and now I come to thee that thou may'st help me and drive them away from me ; then shall the lordship over my land be thine, for ye are pre- ferred by us to them."
" Thy land," answered the King, " is too remote from ours, and is withal too poor a land, wherein is naught but sheep and camels, for us to desire it. I cannot venture a Persian army in Arabia, nor have I any wish so to do."
So Nushirwan gave him a present of ten thousand dirhams and a robe of honour, and so dismissed him. But the Him- yarite envoy, as he went forth from the palace, cast tne g°M m handfuls amongst the retainers, slaves, pages, and handmaidens who stood round, and these greedily scrambled for it. When the King heard this, he recalled the envoy, and asked him how he dared deal thus with the King's gift. "What else should I do with it ? " answered he ; " the mountains of my land whence I come consist only of gold and silver." And when the King heard this, he swallowed the bait so artfully presented, and
THE SASANIAN PERIOD
detained the envoy till he should lay the matter before his advisers. Then said one of his counsellors, " O King, in thy prisons are men whom thou hast cast into fetters to put them to death ; canst thou not give him these ? If they perish, then is thy purpose fulfilled ; but if they take the country, then is thy lordship increased."
This ingenious plan for combining Imperial expansion with
domestic economy was enthusiastically approved, and an
examination of the prisons produced eight hundred
thePereunexpe- condemned felons, who were forthwith placed
ditionary force. , , . ,
under the command or a superannuated general named Wahriz, so old that, as the story runs, his eyelids drooped over his eyes, and must needs be bound or held up when he wished to shoot.1 The expeditionary force thus constituted, and accompanied by Sayf, was embarked on eight ships, of which two were wrecked, while the remaining six safely reached the coast of Hadramawt, where the little Persian army of six hundred men was largely reinforced by the Yamanite Arabs. The news of this bold invasion soon reached Masruq, and brought him out at the head of his hosts to give battle. Then Wahriz made a great feast for his followers, and, while they were carousing, burned his ships and destroyed his stores, after which, in a spirited harangue, he pointed out that the choice between death and victory was the only choice open to them, and called on them to play the part of men. They responded (having, indeed, but little option in the matter), and the battle began. Wahriz caused some of those who stood by
him to point out to him the Abyssinian king, s^eofhwahriz w^° was rendered conspicuous by an immense
ruby, the size of an egg, which blazed on his forehead. Choosing an auspicious moment, Wahriz shot an arrow at him as he rode on his mule, and the arrow struck fair
1 Concerning the origin of this curious detail, which occurs again in another connection, see Noldeke's Sasaniden, p. 226, n I.
REGICIDE AND ANARCHY 181
in the middle of the ruby, splintering it in pieces and trans- fixing Masriiq's forehead.
The death of their king was the signal for the rout of the Abyssinians, whom the victorious Persians massacred without
mercy, though sparing their Arab and Himyarite Pwsunatrapy. allies ; and Yaman became a Persian province,
governed first by its conqueror, Wahriz (and for a part of his lifetime by Sayf), then by his son, grandson, and great-grandson, and lastly, in the time of Muhammad, by a Persian named Badhan of another family. Even in early Muhammadan days we hear much of the Banttl-Ahr&r^ or " Sons of the Noble," as the Persian settlers in Yaman were called by the Arabs.
With the death of Nushirwan (A.D. 578), which happened shortly after these events, the decline of the Sasanian Empire
began. Proud and formidable to outward
Rthlds^nIifn°f appearance as was the Persian power against
&°u"h[wl" which the warriors of Islam hurled themselves in
the following century, it was rotten to the core, honeycombed with intrigues, seething with discontent, and torn asunder by internecine and fratricidal strife. Nushirwan 's own son, Amisha-zadh the Christian, revolted, as has been already mentioned, against him. His successor, Hurmazd the Fourth, provoked by his folly and ingratitude the formidable revolt of Bahrain Chubin, which led directly to his estrangement from his son Khusraw Parwiz ; the flight of the latter and his two uncles, Bistam and Bindu'e, to the Byzantines ; and his own violent death. Parwiz in turn, after a reign long indeed (A.D. 590-627), but filled with strife, intrigue and murder, was murdered by his son, Shiru'e, after a travesty of judicial attainder which did but add senseless insult to unnatural cruelty. After a reign of only a few months, which he inaugurated by the murder of eighteen of his brothers, the parricide sickened and died ; and a fearful plague which devastated Persia seemed the appropriate sign of Heaven's
1 82 THE SAsANIAN PERIOD
i wrath against this wicked king. His infant son, Ardashir, a
boy seven years old, succeeded him, but was besieged and slain in his capital Ctesiphon by the usurper Shahrbaraz, who in turn was assassinated some forty days later (June 9, A.D. 630) by three of his bodyguard. Piiran-dukht, daughter of Khusraw Parwiz, next ascended the perilous throne, and seemed by her wisdom and good intentions destined to inaugurate a brighter epoch, but, after restoring the wood of the True Cross to the Byzantine Emperor, she too died after a reign of sixteen months. She was succeeded by a distant cousin of her father, who, under the name of Piruz, reigned less than a month, and was followed by her sister, the beautiful Azarmf- dukht. She, to avenge an insult, compassed the death of Farrukh-Hurmazd, the Spahbadh of Khurasan, and was in turn slain, after a brief reign of six months, by his son Rustam, the Persian general, who four years later (in A.D. 635) perished in the disastrous defeat of Qadisiyya. Four or five other ephemeral rulers, some of whom were murdered and some deposed, intervened between her and her father's grandson, the ill-fated Yazdigird the Third, who, last of that royal and noble House, perished miserably, a solitary fugitive, at the hands of a wretched churl whose greed had been aroused by the jewels which alone remained to the hunted and ruined king to tell of his rank and riches. When Nushirwan had heard from 'Abdu'l-Masih the intepretation of his vision he consoled himself with the reflection that fourteen kings of his House should rule after him ere the final catastrophe. The first fourteen kings of the dynasty reigned in all more than two centuries : who could suppose that the reigns of the eleven rulers who intervened between Khusraw Parwiz and Yazdigird the Third would not altogether amount to more than five years ? x
And all this time the enemy was thundering at the gates of
1 Shiru'e succeeded to the throne on February 25, A.D. 628 ; Yazdigird III, the last king of the House of Sasan, at the end of A.D. 632 or the begin- ning of A.D. 633.
THE PROPHETS MESSAGE 183
the doomed empire with ever-increasing insistence. Three
presages of disaster, in particular, are enumerated
WtoSf?.°f by TabariV the Muslim historian, as Divine
warnings to. Khusraw Parwiz of the consequences
which his rejection of the message of the Arabian Prophet
would entail. The letter in which this message was embodied
is said to have been couched in the following words : — 3
" In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. From
Muhammad the Apostle of God to Khusraw son of Hurmazd. But to
proceed. Verily I extol unto thee God, beside whom there
TJ16 Prophet;* is no Ofjicr GO(I . fjc n js wno guarded me -when I was an
ctter to I \ir\viz.
orphan, and made me rich when I was destitute, and guided me when I was straying in error. Only he who is bereft of understanding, and over whom calamity triumphs, rejects the message which I am sent to announce. 0 Khusraw ! Submit and thou shall be safe, or else prepare to wage with God and with His apostle a war which shall not find them helpless! Farewell!"
Khusraw Parwiz, according to one story, tore the letter in pieces, whereupon the Muslim envoy exclaimed, " Thus, () impious King, shall God rend asunder thine empire and scatter thy hosts ! " In another account, the Persian King is said to have written to Badhan, satrap of Yaman (see p. 181 supra) bidding him march on Medina, seize the Prophet Muhammad, and bring him captive to Ctesiphon.3
The portents described as warning Khusraw Parwiz of the swiftly approaching doom of the Persian Empire fall into three categories — visions, signs, and actual historical events.
The visions include the apparition to Khusraw Parwiz of an angel, who breaks a staff symbolising the Persian ^iT visions'9' Power> and tne writing on the wall, whereof the purport is thus given in the Nihdyatul-Irab : —
1 See Noldeke's Sasaniden, pp. 303-345.
" The text is taken from the rare Nihdyatu'l-Irab, Cambridge MS. See the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for April, 1900, p. 251. 3 See the article mentioned in the last note, p. 251.
1 84 THE SASANIAN PERIOD
" O weak man ! Verily God hath sent unto His people an Apostle, and hath revealed unto him a Scripture, therefore submit and believe, and He will vouchsafe to tliee the good of this world and the next. But if thou wilt not do this, thou shall shortly perish, and thy kingdom shall perish, and thy power shall depart from thee ! "
The signs include the repeated bursting of a dam placed by
order of the King in the " blind " Tigris (a branch of that
river which flowed by Basra) ; the collapse of the
vaulted arch from which depended the mighty
barrel-like crown over his throne ; and the play of lightnings
reaching towards the east over Hijaz.
The historical event was the Battle of Dhu Qar (fought between A.D. 604 and 610), an engagement which, com- paratively insignificant in itself, yet served to teach (3) Dh^Qa"6 °f the Arabs that, for all their higher civilisation, their wealth, and their renown, the Persians were not invincible. " This," said the Prophet, when he heard of it, " is the first day whereon the Arabs have obtained satisfaction from the Persians j through me have they obtained help ! "
CHAPTER V
THE ARAB INVASION
" DURING the first half of the seventh century," says Dozy in his
excellent work on Islam,1 "everything followed its accustomed
course in the Byzantine as in the Persian Empire.
Dozy on the rise These two states continued always to dispute the
of the Arab . . ,
power. possession of Western Asia ; they were, to all outward appearance, flourishing ; the taxes which poured into the treasuries of their kings reached considerable sums, and the magnificence, as well as the luxury of their capitals had become proverbial. But all this was but in appearance, for a secret disease consumed both empires ; they were burdened by a crushing despotism ; on either hand the history of the dynasties formed a concatenation of horrors, that of the state a series of persecutions born of dissentions in religious matters. At this juncture it was that, all of a sudden, there emerged from deserts hardly known and appeared on the scene of the world a new people, hitherto divided into innumerable nomad tribes, who, for the most part, had been at war with one another, now for the first time united. It was this people, passionately attached to liberty, simple in their food and dress, noble and hospitable, gay and witty, but at the same time proud, irascible, and, once their passions were aroused, vindictive, irreconcilable and cruel, who overthrew in an instant the venerable but rotten Empire of the Persians, snatched from the successors of Constantine their fairest provinces, trampled under their feet a Germanic kingdom but lately founded, and menaced the rest of Europe, while at the same time, at the other end of the world, its victorious armies penetrated to the Himalayas. Yet it was not like so many other conquering peoples, for it preached at the same time
1 Translated into French by Victor Chauvin under the title of Essai sur I'Histoire de I'lslatnistne (Leyden and Paris, 1879).
185
1 86 THE ARAB INVASION
a new religion. In opposition to the dualism of the Persians and a degenerate Christianity, it announced a pure monotheism which was accepted by millions of men, and which, even in our own time, constitutes the religion of a tenth part of the human race."
We have seen that, as at the Battle of Dhu Qar, signs of the immense vitality and potential strength of the Arabs — hitherto regarded by their neighbours as a " negligible quantity " — were not altogether wanting even before the triumph of Islam ; yet it was undoubtedly to Islam, that simple yet majestic creed of which no unprejudiced student can ignore the grandeur, that they owed the splendid part which they were destined to play in the history of civilisation. In judging of the Arabian Prophet, Western critics are too often inclined to ignore the condition from which he raised his country, and to forget that many institutions, such as slavery and polygamy, which they condemn were not introduced but only tolerated by Islam. The early Muslims were very sensible of the immense amelioration in their life effected by Muhammad's teaching. What this amelioration was is well shown in the following passage from the oldest extant biography of the Prophet, that of Ibn Hisham (t A.H. = A.D. 828-9) : — x
"How the Negush summoned the Muhdjirun3 before him, and questioned them concerning their Religion; and their answer concerning this.
" Then he (i.e., the Negush or ruler of Abyssinia) sent unto
the followers of the Apostle of God and summoned them. So
when his messenger came unto them, they gathered
Ibn Hisham s ,
account of the together, and said one to another, 'What will ye
M5foMi?" say to the man when >'e come before him ? ' ' By Allah ! ' Negush of they replied, ' we will declare what we know, and what
Abyssinia. « « *• • • ,
our Apostle hath enjoined on us, come what may ! So when they came to the Negush, he had convened his bishops, who had spread out their books round about him ; and he inquired
1 Edited Dy Wustenfeld, 1859; German translation by Weil, Stuttgart, 1864.
'Muhdjirun ("Fugitives") is the name given to the disciples of Muhammad who were compelled by persecution to flee from Mecca and seek a refuge in Abyssinia and elsewhere.
MUSLIMS BEFORE THE NEGtfSH 187
of them saying, ' What is this religion by reason of which ye have separated from your people, yet enter not withal into my religion nor into the religion of any other of these churches ? '
" Then answered him Ja'far the son of Abu Talib (may God's approval rest upon him !) saying, ' O King ! We were a barbarous folk, worshipping idols, eating carrion, committing shameful deeds, violating the ties of consanguinity, and evilly entreating our neigh- bours, the strong amongst us consuming the weak ; and thus we continued until God sent unto us an Apostle from our midst, whose pedigree and integrity and faithfulness and purity of life we knew, to summon us to God, that we should declare His unity, and worship Him, and put away the stones and idols which we and our fathers used to worship in His stead ; and he bade us be truthful in speech, and faithful in the fulfilment of our trusts, and observing of the ties of consanguinity and the duties of neighbours, and to refrain from forbidden things and from blood ; and he forbade us from immoral acts and deceitful words, and from consuming the property of orphans, and from slandering virtuous women ; and he commanded us to worship God, and to associate naught else with Him, and to pray and give alms and fast.' Then, when he had enumerated unto him the commandments of Islam, he continued, ' So we accepted him as true and believed in him and followed him in that which he brought from God, worshipping God alone, and associating naught else with Him, and holding unlawful that which he prohibited to us, and lawful that which he sanctioned unto us. Then our people molested us, and persecuted us, and strove to seduce us from our faith, that they might bring us back from the worship of God to the worship of idols, and induce us to hold lawful the evil practices which we had formerly held lawful. So they strove to compel us, and oppressed us, and constrained us, and strove to come between us and our religion. Wherefore we came forth unto thy land, choosing thee over all beside thee, and eagerly desirous of thy protection. And now, O King, we pray that we may not be oppressed before thee ! '
" Then said the Negush to him, ' Hast with thee aught of that which thy Prophet received from God ? ' ' Yea,' said Ja'far. ' Then read it to me,' said the Negush. So he read unto him the opening words of the sura entitled K.H.Y.'.S.,* and the Negush wept so that
1 Chap, xix of the Qur'an, better known as the Suratu Maryam, or " Chapter of Mary." Concerning the mysterious letters prefixed to this and twenty-eight other Suras of the Qur'an, see Sale's Preliminary Dicourses, § iii.
188
his beard was wet with his tears, and his bishops wept with him, until their books were wet with their tears, when they heard what he read unto them. Then said the Negush to them, ' Verily this and that which Moses brought emanate from one Lamp. Go, for by Allah I will not suffer them to get at you, nor even contemplate this.' "
To enter into a discussion as to the character and motives of the Prophet Muhammad would lead us too far afield, more especially as these matters, together with his history, the development of his doctrines, and the progress — slow at first, but afterwards lightning-like in its rapidity — of his religion, have been ably and adequately discussed in the monographs of Sale, Sprenger, Muir, Krehl, Noldeke, Boswell Smith, and Sayyid Amir 'All. Of these works the last, written from the point of view of a modern broad-minded and well- read Muslim, conversant alike with Eastern and Western views, is especially deserving of study by those who desire to understand the strong hold which Islam and its Prophet still have even on those Muslims who are most imbued with European culture and learning. The great strength of Islam lies in its simplicity, its adaptibility, its high yet perfectly attainable ethical standard. The Christian ethical standard is, we must admit, higher, but almost beyond the reach of the individual, and quite beyond the reach of the State. The ideal Muslim state is conceivable and was actually realised, or very nearly so, by Muhammad's immediate successors, the four " Orthodox Caliphs," whose rule the historian al-Fakhrf thus describes : —
" Know that this was a state not after the fashion of the states
of this world, but rather resembling prophetic dispensations and
the conditions of the world to come. And the truth
C'aiatFakhr?m concerning it is that its fashion was after the fashion
of the Prophets, and its conduct after the model of the
Saints, while its victories were as those of mighty Kings. Now as
for its fashion, this was hardship in life and simplicity in food and
raiment ; one of them (i.e., the early Caliphs) would walk through
the streets on foot, wearing but a tattered shirt reaching half-way
THE EARLY MUSLIMS 189
down his leg, and sandals on his feet, and carrying in his hand a whip, wherewith he inflicted punishment on such as deserved it. And their food was of the humblest of their poor ; the Commander of the Faithful (on whom be peace !) spoke of honey and fine bread as typical of luxury, for he said in one of his speeches, ' If I v;ished, I could have tb« finest of this honey and the softest of this barley- bread.'
" Know further that they were not abstinent in respect to their food and raiment from poverty or inability to procure the most sumptuous apparel or the sweetest meats, but they used to do this in order to put themselves on an equality with the poorest of their subjects, and to wean the flesh from its lusts, and to discipline it till it should accustom itself to its highest potentialities ; else was each one of them endowed with ample wealth, and palm-groves, and gardens, and other like possessions. But most of their expenditure was in charitable uses and offerings ; the Commander of the Faithful ' Ali (on whom be peace !) had from his properties an abundant revenue, all of which he spent on the poor and needy, while he and his family contented themselves with coarse cotton garments and a loaf of barley-bread.
" As for their victories and their battles, verily their cavalry reached Africa and the uttermost parts of Khurdsan and crossed the Oxus."
Muhammad's task was no easy one, and for the first eight or ten years of his mission, in fact till his flight (hijra) from
Mecca to Madina in A.D. 622 — the epoch whence character^ the to th{s Jay his followers date — must have appeared
hopeless save to such as were possessed by a faith which neither recognised impossibility nor admitted despair. It was not only that the Arabs, especially the Bedouin of the desert, did not wish to abandon their old gods and their ancient customs ; they definitely disliked the pious ideals of Islam, disbelieved in its threats and promises of pains and pleasures beyond the grave, and intensely resented the discip- line to which it would subject them. The genuine Arab of the desert is and remains at heart a sceptic and a materialist ; his hard, clear, keen, but somewhat narrow intelligence, ever alert in its own domain, was neither curious nor credulous in
190 THE ARAB INVASION
respect to immaterial and supra-sensual things ; his egotistical and self-reliant nature found no place and felt no need for a God who, if powerful to protect, was exacting of service and self-denial. For the rest, Allah ta'd/d, the Supreme God preached by Muhammad, was no new discovery of Islam, and if He received from the old Pagan Arabs less attention and poorer offerings than the minor deities, it was because the latter, being in a sense the property of the tribe, might fairly be expected to concern themselves more diligently about its affairs. Yet even to them scant reverence was paid, unless matters went as their worshippers desired. " A la moindre occasion," says Dozy, "on se f&chait contre les dieux, on leur disait comme il faut leurs ve"rites et on les outrageait." Oracles which failed to give the desired reply were insulted ; idols which did not accept the sacrifices offered to them in a becoming manner were abused and pelted with stones ; gods were deposed and improvised on the smallest provocation. Yet all this did not dispose the Arabs to accept a new and exacting religion. The old gods, if ineffectual, were at least intimate and inoffensive, and if they gave little, they expected little in return. Islam, moreover, was uncompromising in its attitude towards them ; they and their followers — even those who lived before the Light came — were in hell-fire, and no favourite fetish was suffered to endure for a moment by the iconoclastic zeal of the new faith. More than this, as Dr. Goldziher has well shown in the first chapter of his luminous and erudite Muhammedanische Studieny wherein, under the title " Dm and Muruwwa," he contrasts the ideals of the jfdhiliyya, or pagan times, with those of Islam, these ideals were in many respects incompatible, and even diametri- cally opposed. Personal courage, unstinted generosity, lavish hos- pitality, unswerving loyalty to kinsmen, ruthlessness in avenging any wrong or insult offered to one's self or one's relations or tribesmen : these were the cardinal virtues of the old pagan Arab j while resignation, patience, subordination of personal
191
and tribal interests to the demands of a common faith, un- worldliness, avoidance of ostentation and boastfulness, and many other things enjoined by Islam were merely calculated to arouse his derision and contempt.
To make the contrast clearer, let us compare the spirit
revealed by the two following passages, of which the first is
taken (v. 178) from the second sura of the Qur'an
y^>?aa!!deof (entitled "the Cow"), while the second is a poem
tootnStd. ascribed to the old robber-minstrel Ta'abbata Sharr*", a name suggestive enough, for it signifies " he took an armful of wickedness."
The first runs as follows : —
" Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces to the East and to
the West, but righteousness is this : whosoever believeth in God,
and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and
the Prophets ; and whoso, for the love of God, giveth
of his wealth unto his kindred, and unto orphans, and the poor, and
the traveller, and to those who crave an alms, and for the release of
the captives ; and, whoso observeth prayer and giveth in charity ;
and those who, when they have covenanted, fulfil their covenant ;
and who are patient in adversity and hardship, and in times of
violence. These are the righteous and they that fear the Lord ! " *
The second is sometimes considered to be a forgery made
by that clever but not very scrupulous scholar Khalaf al-
Ahmar ; but the late Professor Robertson Smith
Ta'abbata held, as it seems to me with good reason, that it
Sharran.
breathes throughout so essentially pagan a spirit that it can scarcely be regarded as a fabrication ; or, if it be such, it is so artfully devised as to sum up, as it were, the whole spirit of the old pagan Arabs.2 The poem celebrates
1 Cited in Sir William Muir's excellent little volume entitled Extracts from the Coran (London, 1880).
• The text of this poem will be found at pp. 187-188 of Wright's Arabic Reading-Book (London, 1870). A spirited German translation in verse is included in an article on the poet by Baur in vol. x. (for 1856 ; pp. 74-109) of the Zeitschri/t d. Deutschen Morgenlaiidischen Gesellschaft.
192 THE ARAB INVASION
the vengeance exacted by the singer from the tribe of Hudhayl for the murder of his uncle, with a description of whose virtues it opens : —
" Verily in the ramne below Sal'a lies a murdered man whose blood
is not suffered to rest unavenged. He left and bequeathed the burden [of vengeance] to me, and
blithely did I take tip the burden for him. And in quest of the blood-revenge, on my part, is a sister's son, a
swordsman whose harness is not loosened, A stealthy tracker who sweats venom, tracking like the rustling
viper, spitting poison.
Grievous and crushing were the tidings that reached us, waxing
great till the greatest seemed small beside them ! Fate hath robbed us (and she was ever faithless) of one hard of
approach whose client was never abased ! A sun-beam in the winter-weather, until, when the Dog-star blazed,
he was a coolness and a shadow ; Lean of the sides, but not from want, open-handed, wise and
disdainful ; Journeying with prudence, so that, when he halted, prudence
halted where he halted ; The rushing rain of the rain-cloud when he would confer benefits,
and, when he sprang to the fray, a conquering lion ; Long-bearded in the tribe, swarthy, ample-skirted; and, when on
the war-path, a slim hycena-wolf. And he had two tastes, honey and colocynth, of which two tastes
every one had tasted. He would ride through the 'Terror' [i.e., the Desert] alone, none
bearing him company save his notched sword-blade of Yemen.
A band of brave fellows travelling through the noon-day glare and then on through the night, until, when the morning mists were dispelled, they alighted;
Each keen warrior girt with a keen blade, flashing like the light- ning when unsheathed.
So we exacted from them the blood-revenge, and of the two factions there escaped not save the fewest.
They were sipping bteaths of sleep, and when they dozed I smote them with consternation and they were scattered.
THE PAGAN ARABS 193
And if Hudhayl broke his sword-blade, many a sword-blade of
Hudhayl did he break ! And many a time did he make them kneel down in a jagged
kneeling- place, whereon the feet were torn I A nd many a time did he surprise them at morning in their shelter,
whereby there was plundering and looting when the killing
was done/
Hudhayl hath been roasted by me, a gallant warrior who wearieth
not of evil till they weary, Who gireth his spear its first drink, so that, when it hath drunk its
first draught, it hath thereafter its second draught. Wine hath become lawful to me when it was unlawful; and by
what labour did it scarce become lawful ! Give me to drink, then, O Sawdd son of 'Amr, for verily my body
hath waxed lean since my uncle's death I
The hyaena laughs over the slain of Hudhayl, and thou may'st see Hie wolf baring his gleaming teeth upon them,
And the birds of prey awake gorged in the morning, trampling upon them, unable to fly ! "
" Honour and revenge," in short, as Muir well says, were the keynotes of the pagan Arab's ideal muruwwa (" manli- ness " or " virtue") ; to be free, brave, generous; to return good for good and evil for evil with liberal measure ; to hold equally dear wine, women, and war ; to love life and not fear death ; to be independent, self-reliant, boastful, and predatory ; above all, to stand by one's kinsmen, right or wrong, and to hold the blood-tie above all other obligations, such were the ideals of the old pagan Arabs, as they are still of the Bedouin, who are Muslims in little else than the name. Alike typical and touching was the attitude of Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib towards his nephew." "O my nephew," he said, in reply to the Prophet's earnest attempts to convert him to Islam, " I cannot forsake the faith of my fathers and what they held, but, by Allah ! naught shall be suffered to befall thee whereby thou may'st be vexed so long as I remain alive ! " *
1 Ibn Hisham (ed. Wiistenfeld), p. 160,
194 THE ARAB INVASION
Disbelieving in the Prophet's claims, or, if believing them, preferring hell-fire in the company of his ancestors to the paradise offered to him as the reward of belief, he yet would not suffer his nephew to be molested at the hands of strangers.
The period extending from the hijra or Flight of the Prophet (June, A.D. 622) to the death of 'Umar, the second of the Four Orthodox Caliphs (al-K^hulafau *r-Rashidun\ in A.D. 644, may be regarded as the golden age of pious, as opposed to philosophical, Islam ; for though the ideal theocracy depicted by al-Fakhri in the passage already cited endured till the death of 'All (A.D. 661), who is regarded by a large section of the Muslim world as the noblest, best, and worthiest of the Prophet's successors, discord, schism, murder, civil war, and internecine feuds entered in during the disastrous rule of the third Caliph, 'Uthman. Muhammad lived to see all Arabia apparently submissive to his doctrine, but no sooner was he dead than a widespread revolt against Islam broke out amongst the Arab tribes, and not till this was quenched in blood, and the "renegades" either slain or reduced to obedience, could Abu Bakr seriously turn his attention to the conquest and conversion of non-Arabian lands. Of these Persia alone concerns us, and once more we may with advan- tage turn to that graphic and picturesque historian al-Fakhri, who, after detailing the signs and warnings which caused Nushirwan and Khusraw Parwlz such disquietude, and remarking that " the like of these ominous portents continually succeeded each other until the end of the matter," continues as follows : —
" And verily when Rustam went forth to do battle with Sa'd the
son of Abu Waqqas he saw in his dream as it were an Angel who
descended from heaven, and gathered up the bows of
Al-Fakhrfs ., _. ,
account of the the Persians, and set a seal upon them, and ascended
°°Pere^ °f with them into neaven- Then there was added there- unto what they constantly witnessed in respect to the resolute speech of the Arabs, and their confidence in themselves,
AL-FAKHRt'S NARRATIVE 195
and their extreme patience under hardships ; and thereafter the dissentient voices which arose amongst themselves towards the end of the matter, after the death of Shahriyar and the accession of Yazdigird to the royal throne, he being then but a young lad, feeble in council ; and lastly the supreme catastrophe, which was the veering of the wind against them during the Battle of Qadisiyya, so that it blinded them with dust and encompassed them in a universal destruction. There was Rustam slain and their host put to rout : look, then, at these omens, and know that God hath a purpose which He fulfilleth.
" Account of the equipment of the army against 'Iraq, and the wresting from the Persians of their empire.
" The frontiers of Persia were the most formidable of frontiers to the Arabs, and those which inspired in their minds the greatest respect and fear, so that they were loath to attack them, but rather avoided them out of respect for the state of the Persian kings, and because of what was generally believed as to their power to subdue other nations. And thus it continued until the latter days of Abu Bakr, when there rose up a man of the Companions named al- Muthanna son of Haritha, who incited the people to give battle to the Persians, making light of the matter and inspiring them with courage therein. So a number of them responded to his appeal, and men remembered what the Apostle of God had promised them in respect to the taking possession of the treasures of the Persian kings. But naught was effected in the matter during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr.
" But during the time of 'Umar ibnu '1-Khattab, al-Muthanna ibn Haritha wrote to him informing him of the troubled state of Persian affairs, and of the accession of Yazdigird the son of Shahriyar to the throne, and of his youth ; for he was but twenty-one years of age at the time of his accession.
> "Then the eagerness of the Arabs to attack Persia was increased, and 'Umar went forth with the army outside Madina, the people knowing not whither he would go, and no man daring to question him concerning aught ; until at length one inquired of him once as to the time of their departure, but got nothing from his question save a rebuke.
"Now it was their habit when any matter troubled them, and they must needs get information concerning it, to seek aid from 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, or 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn 'Awf ; and, when the matter was very urgent to them, they added unto these al-'Abbas. So 'Uthman said to 'Umar, 'O Commander of the Faithful, what tidings have
196 THE ARAB INVASION
reached thee, and what dost them intend ? ' Then 'Umar called the people to public prayer, and they assembled round him, and he announced the news to them, and exhorted them, and urged them to attack the Persians, making light of the enterprise ; and they all consented willingly. Then they asked him to go with them in person, and he answered, ' I will do so unless a better plan than this should appear.' Then he sent for those who were wisest in council and most eminent among the Companions and most prudent, and summoned them before him, and sought counsel of them, and they advised that he should remain and should send one of the chief men of the Companions, remaining behind himself to strengthen him with support. Then, should they be victorious, the end would be attained, while if the man perished, he would send another.
"So when they had agreed to this plan, 'Umar ascended the pulpit ; for it was their custom, when they wished to address the people collectively, that one of them should ascend the pulpit and harangue them on that subject whereon he desired to speak. So when 'Umar had mounted the pulpit he said, ' O people, verily I was resolved to march forth with you, but the wise and prudent amongs't you have turned me from this plan, suggesting that I should abide here and send one of the Companions to undertake the conduct of the war.' Then he asked their advice as to whom he should send ; and at this juncture a letter was handed to him from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, who was absent on some employ ; and they recommended him to 'Umar, saying, ' He is a very lion in attack.' And this proposal met with 'Umar's approval, and he summoned Sa'd, and conferred on him the chief command in 'Iraq, and entrusted unto him the army.
"So Sa'd marched forth with the people, and 'Umar accompanied them for some parasangs ; then he exhorted them and incited them to the holy war, and bade them farewell, and returned unto Madina. But Sa'd, continuing his march, shifted his line of advance into the desert which lies between the Hijaz and Ki'ifa, seeking intelligence, and receiving constant messages and letters from 'Umar, who kept advising him with plan after plan and strengthening him with successive reinforcements, until he finally decided to march on Qadisiyya, which was the gate of the Persian Empire.
Now when Sa'd halted at Qadisiyya, he and those who were with him were in need of provisions, so he sent out some of his men, com- manding them to bring in some sheep and cattle. The people of Sawad feared their advance, but they found a man and questioned him about sheep and cattle. But he replied, ' I have no knowledge concerning this ; ' and behold, he was himself a herdsman who had
AL-FAKHRt'S NARRATIVE 197
concealed his beasts in a place of security thereabouts. Then, as they relate, a bull amongst them cried out, ' The herdsman lies ! Lo, here we are in this enclosure ! ' .So they entered in and drove out therefrom a number of cattle, and brought them to Sa'd. And they augured well from this incident, accounting it a sign of help from God Almighty. For even though the bull did not speak actual words to give the lie to the herdsman, none the less did its lowing at this juncture, whereby they were guided to the cattle when they were so grievously in need of them, clearly give the lie to the herds- man. And this was one of those remarkable coincidences which presaged victory and empire, and wherefrom they were justified in auguring well.
" Now when the news of Sa'd's advance with his army reached the Persians, they despatched against him Rustam at the head of thirty thousand warriors, the Arab army consisting of only some seven or eight thousand men, though afterwards they were reinforced by others. And when the two armies met, the Persians were laughing at the spears of the Arabs, which they compared to spindles ; ' apropos of which I may relate an anecdote of a similar character which there is no harm in introducing here. Falaku 'd-Din Muhammad the son of Aydamir related to me as follows : ' I was in the army of the lesser Dawidar" when he marched forth to meet the Tatars3 on the western side of the City of Peace [Baghdad] on the occasion of that most grievous catastrophe which befell it in the year A.H. 656 [=A.D. 1258]. We met at Nahr Bashir, one of the tributaries of the Little Tigris ; and from our side would go forth to challenge an adversary a horseman mounted on an Arab horse and wholly clad in mail, as though he and his horse were a mountain in solidity. Then there would come out to meet him from the Mongols a horseman mounted on a horse like unto an ass, and holding in his hand a spear like unto a spindle, unclad and unarmed, so that all
1 Cf. al-Baladhuri (ed. de Goeje, pp. 259-260), where one who fought on the Persian side at Qadisiyya relates how they derided the Arab lances, calling them duk, which is the Persian for a spindle.
" A Persian title meaning " Keeper of the inkstand " (dawlt- or dawdfdar), or, as it may be paraphrased " Keeper of the seals." Al-Fakhri wrote his charming history at the beginning of the fourteenth century of our era, at a time when the events of the Mongol invasion were still fresh in men's minds.
3 So the Mongols are generally called by the Arab historians. The European spelling " Tartar" arose from a desire to establish an etymological connection between this formidable people and the infernal regions of Tartarus.
198 THE ARAB INVASION
who beheld him laughed at him. Yet ere the day was done the victory was theirs, and they scattered us in a dire defeat which was the key of disaster, so that then there happened what happened in this matter.'
" Then ambassadors passed between Rustam and Sa'd ; and the Arab of the desert would come to Rustam' s door as he sat on a throne of gold, supported by gold-embroidered cushions in a room carpeted with gold-embroidered carpets, the Persians wearing crowns and making display of their ornaments, and the elephants of war standing on the outskirts of the assembly. So the Arab would approach with his spear in his hand, girt with his sword and carrying his bow across his shoulders, and would tie up his horse near to Rustam's throne. Then the Persians would cry out at him and endeavour to prevent him, but Rustam would stay them ; and the Arab would approach him, walking towards him leaning on his spear, pressing therewith on the carpet and cushions and tearing them with its spike, while the Persians looked on. And when the Arab came unto Rustam he would answer him back, and Rustam continually heard from them wise words and replies which astonished and affrighted him. Thus, for instance, Sa'd used to send a different ambassador each time ; and Rustam inquired of one so sent, ' Why do they not send to us him who was with us yesterday?' 'Because,' answered the other, 'our Amir deals equitably with us both in woe and weal.' Another day he asked, 'What is this spindle in thy hand?' meaning his lance. 'The smallness of a burning coal,' replied the other, ' is no hurt to it.' To another he said on another occasion, ' What ails your sword that I see it so worn ? ' ' Worn of sheath, keen of blade,' retorted the Arab. So these things and the like which Rustam saw alarmed him, and he said to his retainers, ' Behold, the pretensions of these people are either true or false. If they be false, then a people who guard their secrets thus carefully, differing in naught, and agreed with such accord in the concealment of their secret that none discloseth it, is assuredly a people of great strength and power. But if they be true, then can none withstand them.' Then they cried out round him, saying, 'We conjure thee by God not to abandon aught which thou holdest by reason of anything which thou hast seen on the part of these dogs ! Rather be firm in thy resolve to do battle with them.' Then said Rustam, ' This is my view which I tell you ; but I am with you in whatsoever ye desire.'
"Then they fought for several days, on the last of which happened the veering of the wind against the Persians, so that the dust blinded them ; and Rustam was slain, and his army was routed, and their
AL-FAKHRJ'S NARRATIVE 199
possessions were plundered, and the Persians, stricken with panic, sought the fords of the Tigris that they might pass to the eastern shore. But Sa'd pursued them, and crossed the fords, and inflicted on them another great slaughter at Jaliila, and plundered their possessions, and took captive a daughter of the Persian King's.1
" Then Sa'd wrote to 'Umar to inform him of the victory. And during these days 'Umar was anxiously on the watch for tidings of the army, so that every day he used to go forth outside Madina on foot seeking for news, that perchance one might arrive and inform him of what had happened to them. So when he who brought the good tidings from Sa'd arrived, 'Umar saw him and called to him, ' Whence comest thou ? ' ' From 'Iraq,' answered he. ' What of Sa'd and the army?' inquired 'Umar. Said the other, 'God hath rendered them victorious over all this ; ' and 'Umar was walking by the side of the man as he rode on his camel, not knowing that this was 'Umar. But when the people gathered round him, saluting him as Commander of the Faithful, the Arab recognised him and said, ' Why did'st thou not tell me (may God be merciful to thee) that thou wert the Commander of the Faithful ? ' ' O my brother/ replied 'Umar, 'thou hast done naught amiss.' Then 'Umar wrote to Sa'd, ' Stay where thou art ; pursue them not, but be satisfied with this ; and make for the Muslims a place of refuge and a city wherein they may dwell, and set not a river betwixt me and them.' So Sa'd made for them Kiifa, and traced out therein the plan of the Mosque, while the people marked out their dwellings ; and he made it the capital of the province. And thus he obtained control over al-Mada'ina (Ctesiphon), and got possession of its treasures and stores.
"Mention of some quaint incidents which happened at this time.
" Amongst these was that an Arab got possession of a bag filled with camphor, and brought it to his companions, who, supposing it to be salt,3 put it in the food which they were cooking, and found it lacking in savour, not knowing what it was. Then one who knew what it was saw it, and bought it from them for a ragged shirt worth a couple of dirhams.
" And amongst these was that an Arab of the desert got possession of a great ruby worth a large sum of money, and knew not its value. And one who knew its value saw it and bought it from him for a thousand dirhams. Then afterwards the Arab discovered its value,
1 See pp. 130 et seqq. supra. • See n. i on p. 132 supra.
3 Cf. al-Baladhuri, p. 264.
200 THE ARAB INVASION
and his comrades reproached him, saying, 'Why didst thou not ask more for it?' He answered, 'If I had known of any number greater than a thousand, I would have demanded it.' '
" And amongst these was that one of the Arabs was holding in his hand red gold and crying, ' Who will take the yellow and give me the white ? ' supposing that silver was better than gold.
" The ultimate fate of Yazdigird.
" Then Yazdigird fled to Khurasan, and his power was ever waning until he was slain there in the year 31 of the Flight [=A.D. 651-2], and he was the last of the Persian kings."
I have translated this long passage from al-Fakhri because, in comparatively few words and in a graphic and forcible way, it details the most salient features of the Arab conquest of Persia, though it is summary and sketchy, for the struggle was neither begun nor ended with the fatal battle of Qadisiyya. Early in the war the Muslims sustained a severe defeat at Qussu'n-Natif at the hands of Mardanshah and four thousand Persians (November, A.D. 634), nor did the battle of Naha- wand, which happened seven years later than that of Qadisiyya, put an end to the resistance of the Persians, who continued to defend themselves in individual localities with a stubbornness which reached its maximum in the province of Pars, the cradle and centre of Persian greatness. In Tabaristan, protected by forests and fens, and separated by a wall of mountains from the great central plateau of Persia, the hpahbads^ or military governors of the Sasanian kings, maintained an independent rule until about A.D. 760.
More difficult to trace than the territorial conquest of the Sasanian dominions is the gradual victory of the religion of Muhammad over that of Zoroaster. It is often supposed that the choice offered by the warriors of Islam was between the Qur'an and the sword. This, however, is not the fact, for Magians, as well as Christians and Jews, were permitted to
1 A similar anecdote occurs in al-Baladhuri's Kitdbu'l-Futuh (ed. de Goeje, p. 244).
CONVERSION OF THE PERSIANS 201
retain their religion, being merely compelled to pay a jizya or poll-tax ; a perfectly just arrangement, inasmuch as non- Muslim subjects of the Caliphs were necessarily exempt both from military service and from the alms (Sadaqat) obligatory on the Prophet's followers. Thus in al-Baladhud's History or the Muslim Conquests (Kitdbu futuhi l-buldari) z we read (p. 69) that when Yemen submitted to the Prophet, he sent agents to instruct them in the laws and observances of Islam, and to collect the alms of such as adopted it and the poll-tax from such as continued in the Christian, Jewish, or Magian religions. Similarly in the case of <Umman he ordered Abu Zayd to " take alms from the Muslims and the poll-tax from the Magians" (p. 77). In Bahrayn the Persian marzuban and some of his fellow-countrymen embraced Islam, but others continued in the faith of Zoroaster, paying a poll-tax of one dinar for every adult person. " The Magians and Jews," we read (p. 79), "were averse to Islam, and preferred to pay the poll-tax; and the hypocrites amongst the Arabs said, c Muham- mad pretended that the poll-tax should be accepted only from the People of the Book, and now he hath accepted it from the Magians of Hajar, who are not of the People of the Book ; * whereupon was revealed the verse, * O ye who believe ! look to vour selves ; he who errs can do you no hurt when ye are guided: unto God is your return altogether and He will make plain unto you that which ye knew not? " 2 The treaty concluded by Habib b. Maslama with the people of Dabil in Armenia ran as follows : " In the Name of God the Merciful the Clement. This is a letter from Habib b. Maslama to the people of Dabil, Christians, Magians, and Jews, such of them as are present and such of them as are absent. Verily I guarantee the safety of your lives, properties, churches, temples and city walls ; ye are
1 Al-Baladhuri died in A.H. 279 (A.D. 892). His work has been edited by de Goeje (Leyden, 1866).
• Qur'an, v, 104. Concerning the acceptance of the poll-tax from Zoroastrians, as well as from Jews and Christians, cf. A. von Kremer's Culturgeschichtc A, Orients, vol. i, p. 59.
202 THE ARAB INVASION
secure, and it is incumbent upon us faithfully to observe this treaty so long as ye observe it and pay the poll-tax and the land-tax. God is witness, and He sufficeth as a witness." The Caliph 'Umar, as would appear from a passage in al- Baladhuri (p. 267), had some doubts as to how he ought to deal with the conquered Magians, but 'Abdu'r-Rahmdn b. 'Awf sprang to his feet and cried, "I bear witness of the Apostle of God that he said, ' Deal with them as ye deal with the People of the Book ! ' "
Towns which resisted the Muslims, especially such as, having first submitted, afterwards revolted, did not, of course, escape so easily, and, more particularly in the latter case, the adult males, or at any rate those found in arms, were generally put to the sword, and the women and children taken captive. Still it does not appear that the Zoroastrians as such were subjected to any severe persecution, or that the conversion of Persia to Isldm was mainly effected by force. This has been very well shown by Mr. T. W. Arnold, professor at the College of Aligarh, in chap, vii of his excellent work The Preaching of Islam (London, 1896, pp. 177-184); he points out that the intolerance of the Zoroastrian priests, not only towards those of other religions, but towards nonconformist Persian sects, Manichaean, Mazdakite, Gnostic and the like, had made them widely and deeply disliked, so that in many Persian subjects " persecution had stirred up feelings of bitter hatred against the established religion and the dynasty that supported its oppressions, and so caused the Arab Conquest to appear in the light of a deliverance." Moreover, as he further points out, the simplicity and elasticity of Isldm, as well as the numerous eschatological ideas which it had borrowed from Zoroastrianism, and the relief which it gave from the irksome disabilities and elaborate purifications imposed by that religion, commended it to many, and it is quite certain that the bulk or conversions were voluntary and spontaneous. After the defeat of the Persians at Qddisiyya, for example, some four thousand
EARLY PERSIAN CONVERTS 203
soldiers from Daylam (near the Caspian Sea) decided, after consultation, to embrace Islam and join the Arabs, whom they aided in the conquest of Jalula, after which they settled in Kufa with the Muslims ; r and other wholesale and voluntary conversions were numerous. Indeed the influx of Persian converts and captives into Arabia caused 'Umar some anxiety, so that, as the historian Dinawari informs us (p. 136), he exclaimed, " O God J I take refuge with Thee from the children of these captives of Jaliild ! " Nor, in the event, did his anxiety prove baseless ; and he himself was struck down by the dagger of one of these Persian captives, named by the Arabs Abu Liilu'a ; a fact which even at the present day is recalled with satisfaction by the more fanatical Persian Shi'ites, who, at least till very lately, used to celebrate the anniversary of 'Umar's death (called lUmar-&ushdn) much as Guy Fawkes' day is celebrated in England.
The earliest Persian convert, Salman, one of the most revered " Companions " of the Prophet, whom the Syrian
sect of the Nusayris include in their mystical SpS£n.he Trinity denoted by the letters <A, M, S ('All
" the Idea," Muhammad " the Name," Salman " the Gate "),2 embraced Islam before its militant days, and, by his skill in military engineering, rendered material service to the Prophet in the defence of Madma. His history, given at considerable length by Ibn Hisham (pp. 136-143), is very interesting ; and that eager curiosity in religious matters which led him in his youth to frequent the Christian churches of Isfahin, to flee from his luxurious home and indulgent father, and to abandon the Magian faith in which he was born, first for Christianity and later for Isldm, is
1 Baladhuri, p. 280 ; A. von Kremer's Culturgeschichte, vol i, p. 207.
2 See the confessions of a Nusayn renegade entitled al-Bakuratu's- Sttlaymdniyya, published at Beyrout without date, and an English translation of the same by E. Salisbury in the Journal of the American Oriental Society for 1866 (vol. viii, pp. 227-308). .Also the Journal Asiatique for 1879, pp. 192 et seqq.
204 THE ARAB INVASION
characteristically Persian. And if Salmin was the only Persian who was included in the honoured circle of the As-hdb or " Companions," many an eminent doctor of Islam was from the first of Persian race, while not a few prisoners of war or their children, such as the four sons of Shirin (Sirin), taken captive at Jaliild, became afterwards eminent in the Muhammadan world. Thus it is by no means correct to imply (as is often done by those who take the narrower view of Persian literary history against which I have expressly guarded myself at the beginning of this book) that the two or three centuries immediately following the Muhammadan conquest of Persia were a blank page in the intellectual life of its people. It is, on the contrary, a period of immense and unique interest, of fusion between the old and the new, of transformation of forms and transmigration of ideas, but in no wise of stagnation or death. Politically, it is true, Persia ceased for a while to enjoy a separate national existence, being merged in that great Muhammadan Empire which stretched from Gibraltar to the Jaxartes, but in the intel- lectual domain she soon began to assert the supremacy to which the ability and subtlety of her people entitled her. Take from what is generally called Arabian science — from exegesis, tradition, theology, philosophy, medicine, lexico- graphy, history, biography, even Arabic grammar — the work contributed by Persians, and the best part is gone. Even the forms of State organisation were largely adapted from Persian models. Says al-Fakhrf (ed. Ahlwardt, p. 101), on the organisation of the dlwdm or Government offices1: —
" The Muslims were the army, and their wars were for the faith, not for the things of this world, and there were never lacking amongst them those who would expend a fair portion of their wealth
1 Dozy (I'hlamisme, p. 156) says : " Mais la conversion la plus impor- tante de toutes fut celle des Perses ; ce sont eux, et non les Arabes, qui ont donne de la fermete et de la force a I'islamisme, et, en meme temps, c'est de leur sein que sont sorties les sectes les plus remarquables."
PERSIAN INDISPENSABLE TO ARABS 205
in charitable uses and offerings, and who desired not in return for their faith and their support of their Prophet any recompense save
from God ; nor did the Prophet or Abu Bakr impose TofethfdhSnsn on them any fixed contribution, but when they
fought and took spoil, they took for themselves a share of the spoils fixed by the Law, and when any wealth flowed into Madina from any country it was brought to the Prophet's Mosque and divided according as he saw fit. Thus matters con- tinued during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr ; but in the year A.H. 15 (A.D. 636), during the Caliphate of 'Umar, he, seeing how conquest succeeded conquest, and how the treasures of the Persian Kings were passing into their possession, and how the loads of gold, silver, precious stones and sumptuous raiment continually followed one another, deemed it good to distribute them amongst the Muslims and to divide these riches between them, but knew not how he should do or in what manner effect this. Now there was in Madina a certain Persian marzubdn, who, seeing 'Umar's bewilderment, said to him, ' O Commander of the Faithful ! Verily the Kings of Persia had an institution which they called the diwdn, where was recorded all their income and expenditure, nothing being excepted therefrom ; and there such as were entitled to pensions were arranged in grades so that no error might creep in.' And 'Umar's attention was aroused, and he said, ' Describe it to me.' So the marzubdn described it, and 'Umar understood, and instituted the diwdns. . . ."
In the finance department not only was the Persian system adopted, but the Persian language and notation continued to be used till the time of al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf (about A.D. 700), when, as we learn from al-Baladhun (pp. 300-301), Salih the scribe, a son of one of the captives taken in Sistan, boasted to Zadan, the son of Farrukh, another Persian, who held the position of chief scribe and accountant in the Revenue Office of Sawad (Chaldaea), that he could, if he pleased, keep the accounts wholly in Arabic ; which al-Hajjaj, to whom his words were reported, ordered him to do. " May God cut off thy stock from the world," exclaimed Zadan's son Mardan- shdh, " even as thou hast cut the roots of the Persian tongue ; " and he was offered, but refused, 100,000 dirhams if he would declare himself unable to effect this transference. At this
206 THE ARAB INVASION
time, indeed, a strong effort was made by ' Abdu'l-Malik, seconded by his ferocious but able lieutenant al-Hajjaj, to repress and curtail the foreign influences, Persian and Byzantine, which were already so strongly at work, and to expel non- Arabs from the Government offices, but the attempt resulted only in a partial and temporary success.1
Meanwhile, as has been already pointed out, Zoroastrianism, though cast down from its position of a State religion, by no means disappeared from Persia, and the bands of exiles who fled before the Arab invasion first to the islands of the Persian Gulf and then to India, where they founded the Pars! colonies which still flourish in and about Bombay and Surat, were but a minority of those who still preferred Zoroaster to Muhammad and the A vesta to the Qur'dn. Pahlawi literature, as we have seen, continued side by side with the new Arabic literature produced by the Persian converts to Islam ; the high priests or the Magian faith were still persons of importance, in pretty constant communication with the Government officials, and still enjoying a large amount of influence amongst their co-religionists, to whom was granted a considerable measure of self-government ; 2 and the fire-temples, even when laws were promulgated ordering their destruction, were in practice seldom molested, while severe punishment was sometimes inflicted by the Muhammadan authorities on persons whom an indiscreet zeal led to injure or destroy them.3 5 Three centuries after the Arab Conquest fire-temples still existed in almost every Persian province, though at the present day, according to the carefully compiled statistics of Houtum- Schindler, 4 the total number of "fire-worshippers" in Persia only amounts to about 8,500. According to Khanikof (Memoir e sur la part'ie meridionale de I'Asie Centrale^ p. 193), at
1 See A. von Kremer's Culturgeschichte d. Orients, vol. i, pp. 166-183. a Ibid., vol. i, p. 183.
3 Cf. Arnold's Preaching of Islam, p. 179.
4 Die Parsen in Pcrsien, in the Z. D. M. G. for 1882, vol. xxxvi, pp. 54-88. The actual number of fire-temples he gives as twenty-three.
SURVIVAL OF "FIRE WORSHIP'' 207
the end of the eighteenth century, when Aghi Muhammad Khdn, founder of the present QajaY dynasty, laid siege to Kirman, it alone contained 12,000 Zoroastrian families; so that the rapid diminution of their numbers must be regarded as a phenomenon of modern times, though lately, if reliance can be placed on the figures of earlier observers quoted by Houtum- Schindler, they appear to have been again gaining ground.
"In the face of such facts," says Arnold (op. laud., pp. 180-181), " it is surely impossible to attribute the decay of Zoroastrianism to violent conversions made by the Muslim conquerors. The number of Persians who embraced Islam in the early days of the Arab rule was probably very large from the various reasons given above, but the late survival of their ancient faith and the occasional record of conversions in the course of successive centuries, render it probable that the acceptance of Islam was both peaceful and voluntary. About the close of the eighth century Saman, a noble of Balkh, having received assistance from Asad ibn 'Abdu'llah, the governor of Khurasan, renounced Zoroastrianism, embraced Islam, and named his son Asad after his protector : it is from this convert that the- dynasty of the Samanids (A.D. 874-999) took its name. About the beginning of the ninth century Karim ibn Shahriyar was the first King of the Qabusiyya dynasty who became a Musalman, and in •A.D. 873 a large number of fire-worshippers were converted to Islam in Daylam through the influence of Nasiru'1-Haqq Abu Muhammad. In the following century, about A.D. 912, Hasan b. 'All of the 'Alid dynasty on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, who is said to have been a man of learning and intelligence, and well acquainted with the religious opinions of different sects, invited the inhabitants of Tabaristan and Daylam, who were partly idolaters and partly Magians, to accept Islam ; many of them responded to his call, while others persisted in their former state of unbelief. In the year A.H. 394 (A.D. 1003-4), a famous poet, Abu'l-Hasan Mihyar, a native of Daylam, who had been a fire- worshipper, was converted to Islam by a still more famous poet, the Sharif ar-Rida, who was his master in the poetic art.1 Scanty as these notices of conversions are, yet the
1 Like another yet more notable convert from Zoroastrianism, the celebrated Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', Mihyar appears to have been a bad Muslim. Of the former the Caliph al-Mahdi used to say, " I never found a book on Zindiqa (i.e., heresy, especially of Manichoean character) which did not
208 THE ARAB INVASION
very fact that such can be found up to three centuries and * half after the Muslim Conquest is clear testimony to the toleration the Persians enjoyed, and argues that their conversion to Islam was peaceful, and, to some extent at least, gradual."
For a time, however, the intellectual as well as the political life of Persia and Arabia were so closely connected and even identified with each other that in the next chapters, dealing with the evolution of Islam and the origin of its principal sects and schools of thought under the Umayyad and 'Abbasid Caliphs, it will be necessary to speak of the two together, and to treat of some matters more closely connected with the lattei than with the former.
owe its origin to Ibnu'l-Muqaffa'." To the latter al-Qasim ibn Burhan remarked, on hearing of his conversion, " By becoming a Musulman you have merely passed, from one corner of hell to another " (Ibn Khallikan, de Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 432 ; vol. iii, p. 517).
CHAPTER VI
THE UMAYYAD PERIOD (A.D. 661-749)
THE period of the Caliphate (Khilafai) began when Abu Bakr succeeded the Prophet as his Khalifa (Caliph, vice- gerent, or vicar) in Tune. A.D. 672 ; and ended
Definition of the B '. ' 0 J.r ., . ... ,
period of the when, in A.D. 1 250, Hulagu Khan, at the head of his Mongol hordes, seized and sacked Baghdad, and put to death the last Caliph, al-Musta'sim bi'lldh. The title, it is true, was, as Sir Edward Creasy says,1 " perpetuated for three centuries longer in eighteen descendants of the House of lAbbds, who dwelt in Egypt with titular pomp, but no real power, in the capital of the Mameluke rulers, like the descendants of the Great Mogul in British India," until A.D. 1517, when the Ottoman Sultan Selim the First, having overthrown the Mameluke dynasty, induced the puppet-Caliph to transfer to him the title and visible insignia of the Caliphate, the sacred standard, sword, and mantle of the Prophet. Since that time the Ottoman Sultans claim " the sacred position of Caliph, Vicar of the Prophet of God, Commander of the Faithful, and Supreme Imdm of Isldm " ; but whatever advantage they may derive from these high titles,
1 History of the Ottoman Turks, London, 1877, p. 150.
1 5 3°9
210 THE OMAYYAD PERIOD
the Caliphate, as a historical actuality, ceased to exist, after enduring 626 years, in A.D. I258.1
This period falls into three well-marked but very unequal divisions, viz. : —
i. That of the Orthodox Caliphs (al-Khulafa it r-Rdshidini) Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and 'All (632-661 A.D.), which may be briefly characterised as the Theocracy of Islam.
2- That of the Umayyad Caliphs (or Kings, for the spiritual rank of Caliph is often denied to them by later Muslim historians), the.Z?a;m Umayya, who, fourteen in number, ruled from A.D. 661 to 749. This may be denned as the period of Arabian Imperialism and Pagan Reaction.
3. That of the 'Abbasid Caliphs, the Banu'l-'Abbds, thirty-seven in number, who held sway from A.D. 749, when, on October 3oth, Abu'l-'Abbas 'Abdu'llah, called as-Saffdh, " the Siiedder of Blood," was proclaimed Caliph at Kufa, till the sack of Baghdad and murder of al-Musta'sim by Hulagii and his Mongols in A.D. 1258. This may be denned as the period of Persian Ascendancy, and of Philosophical and Cosmopolitan Islam.
During the first period, Madma was the centre ot govern- ment ; during the second, Damascus ; during the third, Baghdad. The Mongol Invasion of the thirteenth rnh\eastonnthl century, and the destruction of the Caliphate pfu*finUthTgin- which it entailed, put an end to the formal unity at in°the political of the Muhammadan Empire in the East and the
history of Islam. , . r T i f i • i r i
palmy days or Islam, and is by far the most important event in the history of Asia since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Long before this catastrophe, indeed, the power of the Caliphate had been reduced to a mere shadow of what it was in what Tennyson calls " the golden prime of good Haroun Alraschid " ; but, though the Empire of the Caliphs was for the most part portioned out amongst dynasties and rulers whose allegiance, when yielded at all, was as a rule the merest lip-service, Baghdad remained until that fatal day
1 Cf. Sir William Muir's very just remarks at p. 594 of his Calipliate . its decline^ and Fall.
THE CALIPHATE 211
the metropolis of Islam and the centre of learning and culture, while Arabic maintained its position not only as the language of diplomacy and learning, but of polite society and belles lettres. The scientific and critical spirit which we so admire in Muhammadan writers antecedent to the Mongol period becomes rapidly rarer in the succeeding years, and hence it is that Persian literature (that is, the literature written in the Persian language), which falls for the most part in the later days of the Caliphate and in the period subsequent to its fall, cannot, for all its beauties, compare in value or interest with that literature which, though written in Arabic, was to a large extent the product of non-Arab and especially Persian minds. The Mongol invasion was not less an intellectual than a political disaster, and a difference, not only of degree but of kind, is to be observed between what was written and thought before and after it.
To write a detailed history of the Caliphs forms no part of the plan on which this book is conceived, especially as this has already been admirably done in German by Dr. Gustav Weil (1846-1862) and in English by Sir William Muir.1 Nor, indeed, are these excellent works amongst the European sources on which we shall chiefly draw in endeavouring to delineate in broad outlines the characteristics of each period, especially as regards its Persian manifestations in the fields of religious and philosophical speculation, culture, politics, and science. For this purpose the most valuable and suggestive books written in European languages are the following : A. von Kremer's Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams (1868); Idem, Culturgeschichtliche Streifziige auf dem Gebtete des Islams (1873) ; Idem, Culturgeschichte des Orients unter dem Chalifen (2 vols., 1875-1877) ; Dozy's Het Islam (1863) translated into French by Victor Chauvin under the title Essal sur VHistoire de fldamhme (1879); Idem, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne;
1 Annals of the Early Caliphate (1883); the Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1891 and 1892) ; also the Life of Mahomet, Mahomet and Islam, &c.
THE OMAYYAD PERIOD
Goldziher's Muhammedanhche Studien (2 vols., 1889-1890) ; Van Vloten's Recherches sur la Domination arabe^ le Chiitisme et les Croyances Messianiques sous le Khalifat des Omayades ( 1 894) ; Idem, Opkomst der Abbasiden ; T. W. Arnold's Preaching of Islam (1896), and other similar works by Caussin de Perceval, Schmolders, Dugat, &c., to which must be added numerous valuable monographs, such as those of Briinnow on the Kharijites, Goldziher on the Zahirites, de Goeje on the Carmathians, Steiner on the Mu'tazilites, Spitta on the School of al-Ash'arf, and many others.
In the two histories of Persia with which Englishmen are most familiar, those of Sir John Malcolm and Clements Markham, the transition period intervening between the Arab Conquest in the seventh century of our era, and the formation of the first independent or semi-independent post-Muhammadan Persian dynasties in the ninth, is rather cursorily and inadequately treated, as though, like the period which separates the fall of the Achaemenian from the rise of the Sasanian dynasties (B.C. 330 — A.D. 226), it were a mere interruption of the national life, instead of being, as in many ways it actually was, the most interesting, and intellectually, the most fruitful of all the periods into which Persian history can be divided. For this reason it will here be discussed with some fulness, especially in what concerns the origin of the first sects whereby Islam was torn asunder.
Although the Umayyad Caliphate, strictly speaking, began with the death of 'Ali and the accession of Mu'awiya in A.D. 66 1, the tendencies which led to its establishment go back to the rule of 'Uthman (A.D. 644-656), the third of the four " Orthodox Caliphs." We have seen that the creation of a common national feeling amongst the Arabs, nay more, of a common religious feeling among all Muslims, in place of the narrow clannishness of the heathen Arabs, was one of the greatest and most notable results of the Prophet's
THE PROPHET'S ACHIEVEMENT 213
mission. But such counsels of perfection were from the first hard to follow, being too radically opposed to ancient and deeply-rooted national instincts, and even the Prophet's partiality for Mecca, his native city, and the Quraysh, his own tribe, had on several occasions given rise to some dis- content and murmuring on the part of his allies of Madina (the dnsdr^ or " Helpers") to whose timely aid his cause owed so much. Still, on the whole, this ideal of equality amongst alf Muslims was fairly maintained until the death of 4Umar in A.D. 644. That it was the ideal is apparent from numerous passages both in the Qur'an and in Tradition, such as " the noblest of you in the sight of God is he who most feareth God " (J3>wr'J«, xlix, 13) ; " the believers are but brethren, so make peace between your two brothers" (j^wr'Jw, xlix, 10) ; " O man ! God hath taken away from you the arrogance of heathen days and the ancient pride in ancestry ; an Arab hath no other precedence over a barbarian than by virtue of the fear of God ; ye are all the progeny or Adam, and Adam himself is of the earth " (Tradition). z At this time, it is true, there were but a very few non-Arabs or " barbarians " who had embraced Islam, and it is doubtful whether, even in his moments of greatest optimism, the Prophet ever dreamed of his religion extending much beyond the Arabian peninsula ; but here at least is the idea, clearly expressed, of a potential equality amongst believers, and an aristocracy not of birth but of faith.
With the accession of 'Uthman, however, the old nepotism and clannish feeling once more became very evident ; and dangers of sedition and schism, already imminent by reason of the jealousies between Mecca and Madfna, between the Muhajirun ("Exiles") and the Ans&r ("Helpers"), between the Hashimite and Umayyad factions of the Prophet's tribe of Quraysh, and between this tribe and the other Arabs, who regarded its ascendancy with ill-concealed discontent, were 1 See von Kremer's Streifzuge, p. 22
214
brought to a head by the new Caliph's irresolution and weakness, obstinacy, and undisguised furtherance of the interests of his Umayyad kinsmen, even of those whose attachment to Islam was most open to doubt. To make clearer what follows, two genealogical tables from Stanley Lane-Poole's most useful manual on the Muhammadan Dynasties (1894) are here inserted. Of these, the first shows the sub- divisions of the tribe of Quraysh and the general connection of the lines of Caliphs.
QURAYSH
Abd Manaf I
Hashim 'Abd Shams
'Abdu'l-Muttalib Umayya
| j I 'UTHMAN and the
•UMAR And BAKR 'Abdu'llah Abu Talib 'Abbas UI.IAYYADS
MUHAM- 'A'isha = MUHAMMAD THE MAD PROPHET
_ I
'ABBASIDS
/ Ruqavya Fatima » 'ALI — al-Hanafiyya
•UTHMAN «• \ and _ [ |
I Umm Kulthum ] j Mubammad Ibnul-Hanafiyya
al-tfasan al-Husayn
SHI'ITE IMAMS, FATI.MID CALIPHS, &c.
From this table we see that of the four " Orthodox Caliphs," the two first, Abu Bakr and cUmar, were the Prophet's fathers- in-law, while the two last, 'Uthman and CAH, were both his sons-in-law ; but that 'AH alone was closely related by blood, he being Muhammad's first cousin, in addition to which he was distinguished by his early and devoted adhesion to the Faith. We also see (and the importance of this fact will appear in the next chapter) that the term Hashimite, or descendant of Hashim, is equally applicable to the Shi'ite Imams descended from CAH and the Prophet's daughter Fatima, and to the 'Abbasid Caliphs, but excludes the Umayyads.
The second table shows the relation of the Umayyad Caliphs to one another and to 4Uthmdn.
CALIPHATE OF 'UTHMAN 215
UMAYYA
|
Abul-'Aj |
Harb Abu Sufyan I. Mu'awiya I x Yazid I 1 3. Mu'awiya II |
|
'Affaa UTHMAN |
Hakam 4. Mar w.i n I |
|
Muhammad |
5. 'Abdul-Malik 'Abdu'l-'Azb |
|
14. Mat w.i n II | 6. Walid 1 |
| ' | 8. 'Umar II I 7. Sulayman 9. Yazid II 10. Hisham. |
|
12. Yazid III |
| n. \\alidll Muawiya 13. Ibrahim 1. , 'Abdu r-Rahman UMAYYADS OF SPAIN. |
From the very beginning of his reign 'Uthman showed a tendency to favour his friends and kinsmen at the expense and to the detriment of that rigid and unswerving justice which Islam had set up as its ideal. That Abu Liilu'a, the Persian slave who had assassinated 'Umar the late Caliph, should suffer the penalty of death was natural enough ; but 'Umar's son, 'Ubaydu'llah, not content with slaying the assassin, also slew a Persian noble named Hurmuzan, a captive of war who had made profession of Islam, because he suspected him of complicity. Of such complicity there was no proof, and 'All, ever rigorous in upholding the laws of Islam, held that 'Ubaydu'llah should be put to death, as having slain a believer without due cause. 'Uthman, however, would not hear of this, but instead named a monetary compensation, which he himself paid ;x and when Ziyad b. Labfd, one of the Ansar, upbraided him in verse 2 for his misplaced leniency, he silenced and expelled the over-bold poet.
Thus from the very moment of his accession 'Uthmain's readiness to be swayed by personal considerations was apparent, but it became much more conspicuous as time went on. The
1 Muir's Caliphate, p. 205.
• The verses will be found in de Goejc's ed. of T^ari, Ser. I, vol. v, p. 2796.
2l6
Arabs in general were embittered against the tribe of Quraysh, whose supremacy they watched with growing jealousy ; and now 'Uthman's open partiality for the Umayyad branch of that tribe, which had strenuously and bitterly opposed the Prophet so long as opposition was possible, and had only made a tardy and unwilling profession of Islam when it could no longer be resisted, thoroughly alienated the Hashi- mite branch, so that even Quraysh was no longer united. Some of the most inveterate enemies of the Prophet, such as Abu Sarh, 'Uthman's foster-brother, whom Muhammad would have put to death on the capture of Mecca but for 'Uthman's intercession, were raised to the highest commands and enriched with the most princely salaries. Men notoriously lax in their religious duties, like Walid b. 'Uqba, whose father had been put to death by the Prophet after the battle of Badr with a " promise of hell-fire," and Sa'id b. al-As, whose father was slain at the same battle in the ranks of the heathen, were given rich governments. Walid, to whom the government ot Kufa was given, came drunk to the mosque, said the wrong prayers, and then asked the congregation whether they had had enough, or would like some more. He was ot course dismissed, but the further chastisement ordained by Islam was only inflicted by 'All's insistence against 'Uthman's wish. Ibn 'Amir, the Caliph's young cousin, was made governor of Basra, on hearing which the old governor, Abu Musa, whom he had supplanted, said, " Now ye will have a tax- gatherer to your heart's content, rich in cousins, aunts, and uncles, who will flood you with his harpies." x Sa'id b. al-'As, the new governor of Kufa, was as bad as his predecessor, so that the people murmured and said, "One of Quraysh succeedeth another as governor, the last no better than the first. It is but out of the frying-pan into the fire."
The growing discontent had other grounds, which led to the alienation of many old Companions of the Prophet remark- 1 Muir's Calij>hatet p. 217.
MURDER OF 'UTHAlAN 217
able for their piety and ascetic life. Ibn Mas'ud, one of the greatest authorities on the text of the Qur'an, was deeply of- fended by 'Uthman's high-handed recension of the
Assassination of TTIT>I j -IILL-I
•uthman in Holy rJook, and more particularly by his destruc- tion of all " unauthorised versions." Abu Dharr, who preached the equality of all believers and denounced the growing luxury, was driven into exile, where he died. * Innovators, for which no good reason beyond the Caliph's will was assigned, added to the rising flood of disaffection, which culminated in the cruel murder of the aged Caliph by a band of malcontents, in the women's apartments of his own house, in the holy city of Madfna, on June 17, A.D. 656. His wife Na'ila, faithful to the last, attempted to ward off with her hand a blow aimed at him by one of th*e assassins, whereby several of her fingers were cut off. These fingers, together with the blood-stained shirt of the aged Caliph, were afterwards exhibited by Mu'awiya in the mosque of Damascus, in order to arouse the anger of the Syrians against the murderers.3
The death of 'Uthmdn destroyed once and for all the out- ward semblance of unity which had hitherto existed in Islam, and led directly to wars wherein for the first time ACai'ipChed tne sword was turned by Muslims against their fellow -believers. 'Ali was at length chosen Caliph — a tardy recognition, as many thought, of his well- founded claims to that high office — to the disappointment of Talha and Zubayr, who, incited by 'A'isha, the daughter of Abu Bakr and widow of the Prophet, revolted against him and paid for their presumption with their lives BatcaemeLhe at tne Battle of the Camel, wherein ten thousand Muslims perished (December, A.D. 656). *Ali himself was most anxious to avoid this carnage, but just when
1 For a full account of this transaction, see Mas'iidi's Muruju'dh- Dhahab, ed. Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, pp. 268-274. 3 Al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), p. no
218 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
his efforts at conciliation seemed crowned with success the murderers of 'Uthman, who were included in his army, fearing lest punishment might fall upon them if peace were restored, succeeded in precipitating the battle.
Worse trouble, however, was impending in Syria, where
4Uthmdn's kinsman Mu'awiya was governor, and where the
Umayyad influence and interest were supreme.
refuses to cAliy refusing to listen to those who advised him
•A^cLlfph. not to interfere with this powerful and cunning
governor, persisted in his intention of at once
recalling him from his post. Mu'awiya refused to obey the
summons, and retaliated by roundly accusing 'All of being
privy to 'Uthman's murder, a charge which had been already
formulated by Walid b. 'Uqba (who, as we have seen, had
suffered punishment at 'All's hands), in some verses 1 addressed
to the Hashimites in general, which conclude : —
" Ye have betrayed him ('Uthman) in order that ye might take Ins place, Even as once Kisrd (Khusraw Parwiz) was betrayed bv his satraps."
Mu'awiya, therefore, posing as the avenger of 'Uthman, not merely refused to obey 'All, or to acknowledge him as Caliph, but himself laid claim to this title, a pretension in which he was ably supported by the astute 'Amr ibnu'l-'As, to whom, as the reward of his services, he promised the government of Egypt. All negotiations having failed, 'Ali, who had left Madina and established himself at Kufa, declared war on Mu'awiya and his Syrians, and, with an army of fifty thousand men, marched against him. The two armies met
Battle of Siffi'n. ?
at Siffin, a place lying between Aleppo and hmesa (Hims) in Syria, and after several weeks of desultory skir- mishing and fruitless negotiations, a pitched battle was fought in the lafct days of July, A.D. 657. On the third day victory inclined decisively to 'All's side, when 'Amr ibnu'l-'As, ever fertile in stratagems, counselled Mu'dwiya to bid his troops 1 Mas'udi, op. cit., p. 286.
AND MU'AWIYA 219
raise aloft on their lances leaves of the Qur'dn, and cry, "The Law of God ! The Law of God ! Let that arbitrate between us ! " In vain did 4AIi warn his followers against this device, and urge them to follow up their advantage ; the fanatical puritans who formed the backbone of his army refused to fight against men who appealed to the Qur'an ; a truce was called ; arbitration was accepted by both parties ; and even here 'All was forced to accept as his representative the feeble and irresolute Abu Musi al-Ash'ari, whom he had but lately dismissed for his lukewarmness from the government of Kiifa, while Mu'awiya's cause was committed to the wily and resourceful 'Amr ibnu'l-'As, who, by another discreditable trick,1 succeeded in getting 'All set aside and ciahiieifcaMph, Mu'awiya declared Caliph. This took place at
Dawmatu'l-Jandal (a place in the Syrian desert just south of the thirtieth degree of latitude, and about equi- distant from Damascus and Basra), in February, A.D. 658.
On the disappointment and disgust of 'All and his followers it is needless to dwell. A daily commination service, wherein
Mu'awiya and his allies were solemnly anathe-
Ah's position. J ...
matised by name, was instituted in the mosques of 'Irdq, which province still remained more or less faithful to 'All ; and Mu'awiya returned the compliment at Damascus, where the cursing of 'All, his sons and adherents, remained in force till it was abolished by 'Umar II, almost the only God- fearing ruler of the whole Umayyad dynasty. Nor did 'Ali rest content with mere curses ; he began to prepare for another campaign against his rival, when other grave events nearer home demanded his attention.
'All's followers included, besides personal friends and retainers,
political schemers, and the factious and unsteady in- ^^orc0^ habitants of Basra and Kufa, two parties, diametri-
cally opposed in their Views, which represented
1 See Muir's Caliphate, pp. 280-282 ; al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), pp. 111-114.
220 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
the two most ancient sects of Isldm, the Shi'ites, and the
Kharijites. The former were the devoted partisans of *Ali,
the "Faction " (ShPa] of him and his House, the defenders in
general of the theory which has been exposed at
The Shi'ites. , , - , .
pp. 130 et seqq.^ and which we may briefly define as jthe theory of the Divine Right of the Prophet's descendants and nearest of kin to wield the supreme authority in Islam, /both temporal and spiritual. Of these, and of the fantastic doctrines propounded and maintained by the more extreme amongst them, we shall have to speak repeatedly in the following pages, and will only add here that these extreme views as to the sanctity, nay, divinity, of 'All had, even during his lifetime, and in spite of his strong disapprobation, found a vigorous exponent in the converted Jew, 'Abdu'llah ibn Sabd,1 who-carried on a propaganda in Egypt as early as A.D. 653, during the Caliphate of 'Uthman.
The Kharijites (Khawarij\ " Seceders,"^ or (as Muir calls them) "Theocratic Separatists," represented the extreme demo- cratic view that any free Arab was eligible for
TheKhawarij. -p, ~-*~*** J »
election as Caliph, and that any Caliph who ceased to give satisfaction to the commonwealth of believers might be deposed.3 Their ranks were chiefly recruited from the true Arabs of the desert (especially certain important tribes
1 See Muir, op. laud., pp. 225-226 ; Shahristani's Kitdbu'l-Milal (ed. Cureton), pp. 132-133-
3 Briinnow, however (op. laud., p. 28), considers that this title was originally assumed by these sectaries themselves, not given to them hy their enemies, and that it does not imply rebellion and secession, but, like Mnhdjimn (another name assumed by the Kharijites, means simply exiles from their homes for God's sake. He refers especially to Qur'an, iv, 101 in support of this view.
3 At a later date these two cardinal tenets were further expanded by the more fanatical Kharijites by the substitution in this formula of "good Muslim " for " free Arab," and the addition of the words " and if necessary slain " after deposed. On the Kharijites consult especiaTVy T3runhow's excellent monograph, Die Charidschiten, &c. (Leyden, 1884) ; von Kremer's Herrschenden Ideen, &c., pp. 359-360 ; Dozy's Histoire de I'lslamismc, pp. 211-219,
221
like Tamim), and the heroes of Qddisiyya and other hard- fought fields ; with whom were joined the puritans of Isldm, " the people of fasting and prayer " as Shahristanf calls them, who saw the unity of the Faith imperilled by the ambition of/ lidividuals, and its interests subordinated to those of a cliquej Alike in their indomitable courage, their fierce fanaticism, and their refusal to acknowledge allegiance save to God, these Shurdty or " Sellers " of their lives for heavenly reward (as they called themselves, in allusion to Qur'an ii, 203) l remind us not only of the Wahhdbfs of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but of the Scottish Covenanters and the English Puritans, and many a Kharijite poem2 is couched in words which, mutatis mutandis, might have served Balfour of Burleigh.
TQ_this_dem9c,rayic parfy th? ari'storrjiPY yf TsMtr^ repre- sented by (Ali and the Hashimite faction of Quraysh, was only in degree less distasteful than the aristocracy of heathenesse, •represented by Mu'awiya and the Umayyads ; and though they fought on 'All's side at the Battle of SifKn, their alliance, as has been already observed, was by no means an unmixed advantage. For after the fiasco resulting from the arbitration on which they themselves had insisted, they came to 'All saying, 3 "Arbitration belongs to God alone. What ailed thee that thou madest men arbiters?" "I never acquiesced in the matter of this arbitration," replied 'All ; "it was ye who wished for it, and I told you that it was a stratagem on the part of the Syrians, and bade you fight your foes, but ye refused aught save arbitration, and overrode my judgment.
1 And also Qur'an, ix, 112. See Briinnow (op. laud.), p. 29.
• The richest collection of such poems is contained in the Kdmil of al-Mubarrad (composed in the ninth century of our era, edited by Wright, 1864-1882), chaps, xlix, li, liv. A selection of them is contained in Noldeke's Delectus Vet. Carm. Arab. (Berlin, 1890), pp. 88-94. See also von Kremer's Culturgeschichte, vol. ii, pp. 360-362.
3 I follow the account given by al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlvvardt), pp. 114 et seqq.
222 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
But when there was no escape from arbitration, I made it a condition with the umpires that they should act in accordance with God's Scripture, . . . but they differed, and acted con- trary to Scripture, acting in accordance with their own desires ; so we are still of our original opinion as to giving them battle." " There is no doubt," answered the Kharijites, " that we originally acquiesced in the arbitration, but we'"h'aVe repented of it, and recognise that we acted in error. If now thou wilt confess thine infidelity (kufr\ and pray God to pardon thy fault and thine error in surrendering the arbitration to men, we will return with thee to do battle with thine enemy and our enemy, else will we dissociate ourselves from thee."
'All was naturally incensed at the unreasonable behaviour of these men, but his remonstrances and exhortations were of
no avail, and ere his retreating army reached TN^uwIn°f Kufa, twelve thousand of the malcontents did, as
they had threatened, dissociate themselves from him, and retired to Harurd, where they encamped. Adopting as their warcry the words " L& hukma ilia lillah I " (" Arbitra- tion belongs to none save God ! "), they advanced towards Mada'in (Ctesiphpn) with the intention of occupying it and establishing a " Council of Representatives " which should serve "as a model to tne ungodly cities all around."1 Foiled in this endeavour by the foresight of the governor, they continued their march to Nahruwan, near the Persian frontier. They ( also nominated a Caliph of their own — 'AJadja'lldh b. Wahb / of the tribe of Rasib) 2 — on March 22, A.D. 658, and pro- ceeded to slay as unbelievers Muslims who did not share their views, recognise their Caliph, and consent to curse both 'Uthman and 'All. Ferocity was strangely mixed with the most exaggerated scruples in their actions. One of them picked up a date which had fallen from the tree and placed it in his mouth, but cast it away when some of his companions 1 Muir, of. laud, p. 284. * Briinnow, op, laud. p. 18.
THE KHARIJITES 223
cried out, "Thou hast eaten it without right, having taken it without payment ! " Another smote with his sword a pig which happened to pass by him, and hamstrung it. " This," exclaimed his fellows, " is a mischief on the earth ! " There- upon he sought out the owner and paid him compensation.1 On the other hand harmless travellers were slain, and women great with child were ripped open with the sword. For such cruelties the fanatics offered no apology ; on the contrary, when invited by 'All to surrender the murderers and depart in peace, they cried, " We have all taken part in the slaughter of the heathen ! "
With such a danger threatening their homes, it was not to be expected that 'All's troops would consent to march again on Syria until they had made an end of these schismatics. 'Alii still for clemency, suffered such of them as would to withdraw themselves from the Kharijite camp. Half of them availe$ themselves of this offer ; the remaining two thousand, sconir fully rejecting all overtures, stood their ground and perished almost to a man, while of 'All's 60,000 warriors only seven fefl. This happened in May or June, A.D. 658, and served but to render more implacable the enmity of the surviving Kharijites towards 'All, whom henceforth they hated even more than they hated Mu'awiya. 'All's troops, moreover, refused to march against his rival until they had rested and recruited themselves. "Our swords are blunted," they said, "our arrows are spent, and we are wearied of warfare ; let us alone, that we may set our affairs in order, and then we will march."2 But instead they began to slip away as occasion offered, until at length the camp was left empty ; and Mu'awiya, waxing
ever bolder as he saw the increasing difficulties ^fort'uifeT19" against which his rival had to struggle, seized
Egypt and stirred up revolt even in Basra ; while fresh Kharijite risings extending throughout the south of
1 Al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), p. 115. * Ibid., p. 117.
224 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
Persia (the people of which were won "by the specious and inflammatory cry that payment of taxes to an ungodly Caliph was but to support his cause, and as such intolerable "),*
followed by a series of untoward and painful events, Ii^aew7yah so broke 'All's spirit that in A.D. 660 he was fain
to conclude a treaty which left Mu'awiya in undisturbed possession of Syria and Egypt. A year later
(January, 661) 'AH was assassinated in the mosque
Assassination of c T»- ,e \ TU n/r i- j i tr\ i •••
•AH, Jan. 25, of Kufajby ibn, jvluljam and two other Khanjite
fanatics. Thus died, in his sixtieth year, the
Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, the last of the four Orthodox
Caliphs of the Sunnis, the first of the Shi'ite Imams. He was
succeeded by al-Hasan (the eldest of the three sons 2 born to
him by Fatima, the Prophet's daughter), who, on
Succession and , f , i , , . , ,
abdication of August 10, ooi, tamely abdicated, leaving
al-Hasan. •««•//• i- i /- i
Mu'awiya undisputed master of the great Muhammadan Empire, and the Umayyad power firmly established and universally acknowledged.
The triumph of the Umayyads was in reality, as Dozy well says, the triumph of that party which, at heart, was hostile to Islam ; and the sons of the Prophet's most inveterate foes now, unchanged at heart, posed as his legitimate successors and vicegerents, and silenced with the sword those who dared to murmur against their innovations. Nor was cause for murmuring far to seek even in the reign of Mu'dwiya, who, in the splendour of his court at Damascus, and in the barriers which he set between himself and his humbler subjects, took as his model the Byzantine Emperors and Persian Kings rather than the first vicars of the Prophet. In the same spirit he nominated his son Yazid as his successor, and forced this unwelcome nomination on the people of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Madhia.
1 Muir, op. cit., p. 292.
9 One of these died in infancy. The other was al-Husayn.
YAZfD 22$
It was still worse when, on the death of Mu'awiya (April,
A.D. 680), Yazid came to the throne. No name is more
execrated throughout Islim, but most of all in
Y*6&>is3)D' Persia, than his. A Persian who will remain
unmoved by such epithets as "liar," "scoundrel,"
or "robber," will fly into a passion if you call him Yazid,
Shimr, or Ibn Ziydd. A Persian poet, who had
His very name , i_ i j r JJ- L-
execrated by the been rebuked for adding a curse to his name, retorted, " If God can pardon Yazid, then He will very surely pardon us for cursing him ! " Hdfidjj has been severely censured because the first ode in his dlwan begins with the second hemistich of the following verse from the poems of this impious Caliph : —
Ana'l-tnasmuntu ma 'indi bi-lirydq*'" wa Id rdqi ; Adir ka'sf* wa nawil-hd, aldyd ayyuha's-sdqi I
"I, drugged with poison, have neither antidote nor guarding
charm ; Pass the cup and give it me to drink, O cupbearer ! "
Ahli of Shiraz, seeking to apologise for " the Tongue ot the Unseen " (Lisdnul-Ghayb\ as the admirers of Hdfidh call him, says : —
"One night I saw Master Hafidh in a dream; I said, 'O thou who art peerless in excellence and learning, Wherefore didst thou take to thyself this verse of Yazid, Notwithstanding all this virtue and eminence?' He answered, 'Thou understandest not this matter; The infidel's goods are lawful spoil to the true believer ! ' "
But even this excuse would not pass. Kitibf or Nfehdpur replies : —
"Greatly do I marvel at Master Hafidh, So that thereby understanding is reduced to helplessness. What virtue did he perceive in Yazid's verse That in his diwdn he first sings of him ?
16
226 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
Although to the true believer the infidel's goods Are lawful spoil, and herein no discussion is possible, Yet is it a very shameful act for the lion To snatch a morsel from the mouth of the dog !"
Needless to say Yazid has found defenders amongst European historians, to some of whom the reversal of unanimous verdicts
is always an alluring aim. Nor, indeed, is his ChY^!rof personality repulsive. Born of a Bedouin mother,1
bred in the free air of the desert, an eager and skilful huntsman, a graceful poet,2 a gallant lover, fond of wine, music, and sport, and little concerned with religion, we might, for all his godlessness, levity, and extravagance, have suffered his handsome face,3 his pretty verses, his kingly qualities, and his joyous appreciation of life to temper our judgment had it not been for the black stain which the tragedy of Kerbela has left on his memory. " His reign," says al-Fakhrf, " according to the more correct statement, lasted three years and six months. In the first year he slew al-Husayn, the son of 'All (on both of whom be Peace ! ) ; and in the second year he sacked Madina and looted it for three days ; and in the third year he attacked the Ka'ba."
Of these three outrages, the first in particular sent a shudder of horror throughout the Muhammadan world, nor can any
one endowed with feeling read unmoved the Kerbeia (dct° lamentable tale. It was not only a crime but a
gigantic blunder, whereby Yazid and his execrable minions, Ibn Ziyad, Shimr, and the rest irretrievably alienated from the House of Umayya not the love or loyalty — for there was little enough of that already — but the tacit toleration of all those who loved the Prophet or cared for the religion which he had founded. . The Shila, or " Faction " of 'All, had, as we have seen, hitherto been sadly lacking in enthusiasm and self-
* Muir, op. cit., p. 316.
* Some very pretty verses by him are given by al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), PP- 137-138. 3 Al-Fakhri, p. 67.
KERBELA 227
devotion ; but henceforth all this was changed, and a reminder of the blood-stained field of Kerbela, where the grandson of the Apostle of God fell at length, tortured by thirst and surrounded by the bodies of his murdered kinsman, has been at any time since then sufficient to evoke, even in the most lukewarm and heedless, the deepest emotion, the most frantic grief, and an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death shrink to unconsidered trifles. Yearly, on the tenth day of Muharram the tragedy is rehearsed in Persia, in India, in Turkey, in Egypt, wherever a Shi'ite community or colony exists ; and who has been a spectator, though of alien faith, of these ta'ziyas without experiencing within himself something of what they mean to those whose religious feeling finds in them its supreme expression ? As I write it all comes back : the wailing^ chant, the sobbing multitudes, the white raiment red with blood from self-inflicted wounds, the intoxication of grief and sympathy. Well says al-Fakhri * : —
"This is a catastrophe whereof I care not to speak at length,
deeming it alike too grievous and too horrible. For verily it was a
catastrophe than which naught more shameful hath
A1iferbeii °" happened in Islam. Verily, as I live, the murder of ['Ali] the Commander of the Faithful was the Supreme Calamity ; but as for this event, there happened therein such foul slaughter and leading captive and shameful usage as cause men's flesh to creep with horror. And again I have dispensed with any long description thereof because of its notoriety, for it is the most celebrated of catastrophes. May God curse every one who had a hand therein, or who ordered it, or took pleasure in any part thereof ! From such may God not accept any substitute or atonement ! May He place them with those whose deeds involve the greatest loss, whose effort miscarries even in this present life, while they fondly imagine that they do well ! "
"The tragedy of Kerbala," says Sir William Muir,2 "decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mahometan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared. Who that has seen the wild and passionate grief with which, at each recurring
1 Pp. 138 et scqq. • P. 324.
228 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
anniversary, the Muslims of every land spend the live-long night, beating their breasts and vociferating unweariedly the frantic cry — Hasan, Hosetn ! Hasan, Hosein ! — in wailing cadence can fail to recognise the fatal weapon, sharp and double-edged, which the Omeyyad dynasty allowed thus to fall into the hands of their enemies ?"
The rebellion of 'Abdu'llah ibn Zubayr, who for nine years
(A.D. 683-692) maintained himself as independent Caliph in the
Holy Cities, like the more formidable insurrection
IbnVubayer of Mukhtar (A.D. 683-687), Owed itS SUCCCSS tO and Mukhtar. . . . . - .
the general desire tor vengeance on the murderers of al-Husayn and his kinsmen which possessed not only the whole Shi'ite party, but even many of the Kharijites.1 In the sack of Madfna by Yazid's army (A.D. 682) there perished eighty " Companions " of the Prophet, and no fewer than seven hundred " Readers " who knew by heart the whole Qur'an. The blood of these too cried for vengeance, as did the desecrated sanctuary of Mecca. Kerbeli at least was amply avenged by Mukhtar (A.D. 686), who put to death, in many instances with torture, Ibn Ziyad, Shimr, 4Amr ibn Sacd, and several hundred persons of lesser note who had borne a share in that guilty deed. He himself, however, was slain less than a year afterwards by Mus'ab, the brother of Ibn Zubayr, together with 7,000 or 8,000 of his followers. The growing dissensions whereby the Musulman world was torn found a remarkable illustration in June, A.D. 688, when four rival leaders — the Umayyad Caliph 'Abdu'l-Malik, 'All's son Muhammad (generally known as "//>«#'/- Hanafiyya" "the son of the Hanafite woman," in allusion to his mother), Ibn Zubayr, and Najda the Kharijite — presided over the ceremonies of the Pilgrimage at Mecca, each at the head of his own followers.
The movement headed by Mukhtdr was, as we have seen, essentially Shi'ite j the cry was throughout for vengeance on
1 Muir, op. cit., p. 332.
REBELLION OF AL-MUKHTAR 229
the murderers of al-Husayn and his companions, and it pro- fessed to aim at establishing the rights of the above-mentioned Ibntil-Hanafyya.* Herein it differed from later
Characteristics nixc • • 1-1 «
of Mukhtar's bhrite movements, since it did not recognise the importance attached by these to direct descent either from the Prophet through his daughter Fatima (who was the mother of both al-Hasan and al-Husayn, but not, of course, of Ibmil Hanafiyya\ or from the Persian Royal House of Sasan. This double qualification appears first in al-Husayn's son 'All, called as-Sajjad^ " the Worshipper," or more often
the Devout," whose mother was believed to be the daughter of Yazdigird2; and it was in him and his descendants that the legitimist aspirations of the two great branches into which the later Shi'ites became divided (the "Sect of the Twelve " and the "Sect of the Seven") first found complete satisfaction. Amongst Mukhtar's followers there were, as we know, a great number of non-Arab "clients" (mawla^ pi. mawaH\ of whom the majority were in all probability Persians ; of his army of 8,000 men which capitulated to Mus'ab, the brother of Ibn Zubayr, less than one-tenth (some 700) were Arabs.3 The causes which enlisted these foreign Muslims in his ranks have been most carefully
1 See al-Ya'qubi, ed. Houtsma, vol. ii, p. 308.
• See pp. i$oets,cqq. supra, and al-Ya'qubi's excellent history (ed. Houtsma), vol. ii, pp. 293, and 363. " His mother," says this historian (who died in the latter half of the ninth century of our era), " was Harar [name uncertain] the daughter of Yazdigird the Persian King ; and this was because when 'Umar b. al-Khattab brought in the two daughters of Yazdigird, he gave one of them to al-Husayn the son of 'Ali, who named her ' the Gazelle." And when 'Ali the son of al-Husayn [and this Persian princess] was mentioned, some of the noblest used to say, ' All men would, be glad iLlheir mothers were [such] slaves ! ' '
3 Muir, op. cii, pi 336. " It is instructive to observe," says this historian, " the distinctive value at this period placed on the life of Arabs, when it was calmly proposed to set the Arab prisoners free and slay the 'clients' of foreign blood." All, however, were, after much discussion, put to death. Dinawari (p. 296) also mentions that there were many Persians amongst Mukhtar's followers.
ic
r
230 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
studied by Van Vloten in his scholarly Recherches sur la domina- tion arabe, &c., the work to which we are most indebted in the following paragraphs.
The Umayyad rule reached its culminating point in the
reign of 'Abdu'l-Malik (A.D. 685-705), in which the purely
Arabian secular power reached its zenith. Then,
Reign of 'Abdu'l- ... ,.
Malik (A.D. as we have seen, Arabic coinage first came into general use ; the Government accounts were trans- ferred from the Persian into the Arabic language ; the old Arabian aristocracy was dominant ; the foreign " clients " were despised and oppressed ; and the feelings of the pious Muslims — especially the Ansdr, or " Helpers," of Madina, and the loyal adherents of the House of the Prophet — were repeatedly and ruthlessly outraged. 'Abdu'l-Malik's capable but cruel lieu- tenant, Hajjij ibn Yusuf (a name hardly less execrated than those of Yazid, Ibn Ziydd, and Shimr), who first recommended himself to his master's notice by his readiness to (aiUHa"!>-f undertake the siege and bombardment of Mecca x and the suppression of Ibn Zubayr's rebellion, was for more than twenty-two years (A.D. 691-713) the blood- thirsty and merciless scourge of the Muslim world. The number of persons put to death by him in cold blood, apart from those slain in battle, is estimated at 120,000 ; and his savage harangue to the people of Kiifa,2 beginning, " By God ! 1 see glances fixed upon me, and necks stretched forward, and heads ripe for the reaping, ready to be cut off, and I am the man to do it ! " is typical of the man's ferocious nature. Not less typical of his master, 'Abdu'l-Malik, are the words wherewith he is said to have received the news of his accession to the Caliphate. 3 He was reading the Qur'an when the messenger came to him ; on hearing the message, he closed the holy volume, saying, u * This is a separation between me and thee / ' " 4 To the
1 Al-Ya'qubi, vol. ii, p. 318.
a See Mas'udi's Murufu'cih-Dltabab, ed. B. de Meynard, vol. 5, pp. 294-300. 3 Al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), pp. 146-147. •» Qur'an, xviii, 77.
CAUSES OF DISCONTENT 231
sanctity of places and persons he was equally insensible when political considerations bade him destroy, and his Syrians hesitated not to obey his behests. " Reverence and loyalty clashed," says al-Yacqubi,r "and loyalty conquered."
" Thus, then," as Dozy well remarks,2 " the party hostile to Islam did not rest until they had subdued the two Sacred Cities, turned the The Umavyad mosque of Mecca into a stable, burned the Ka'ba, and rule character- inflicted deep humiliation on the descendants of the first Muslims. The Arab tribes, which a minority had subdued and compelled to embrace Islam, made it pay dearly for this double success. The whole Umayyad period is nothing else but the reaction and triumph of the pagan principle. The Caliphs them- selves were, with about one exception, either indifferent or infidel. One of them, Walid II (A.D. 743-744), even went so far as to suffer his concubines to take his place in public prayer, and to use the Qur'an as a target for his arrows." 3
Broadly speaking, the policy of the Umayyads ^irei/ai^MtS" utterty alienated four classes of their subjects,
by Umayyad to :f .
policy.
(i) The pious Muslims, who saw with horror
and detestation the sacrilegious actions, the ungodly lives, the
profanity and the worldliness of their rulers.
Muslims* Amongst these were included nearly all the
"Companions" (JshAb) and the "Helpers"
(dnsAr}y and their descendants. From these elements the
rebellion of Ibn Zubayr derived most of its strength.
(2) The " Faction " (SM'a) of <Ali, which had suffered from the House of Umayya the irreparable wrongs, culminating
in the tragedy of Kerbeld, of which we have already spoken. This constituted the kernel of al-Mukhtar's rebellion.
(3) The Kharijites, or puritan theocrats, who, reinforced by
malcontents and freebooters of every kind, con-
3. Khawarij. .... . ,
tmued, till about A.D. 700, to cause continual
1 Vol. ii, p. 300. a L'lslamistne (Chauvin's translation), p. 179.
3 See al-Fakhri, p. 159, where a pair of verses addressed by him to the misused Qur'an are cited.
232 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
trouble of the most serious kind to the Umayyad Govern- ment.1
(4) The " Clients " (Maw&li)^ or non-Arab Muslims, who,
far from being treated by the Government as equal to their
co-religionists of Arab birth, were regarded as
4. Subject-races. .
subject-races to be oppressed, exploited and de- spised by their rulers.
Following Van Vloten's admirable researches, it is of this last class in particular that we shall now speak. This learned
writer ascribes the fall of the Umayyad dynasty
Causes of the . . . . ' . ,.
faii of the and the triumph of the 'Abbasids mainly to three
Umayyad power.
causes : to wit : —
(1) The inveterate hatred of a subject race towards its foreign oppressors.
(2) The Shi'ite movement, or Cult of the descendants of the Prophet.
(3) The expectation of a Messiah or deliverer.
The rivalry of the Arab tribes of the north and the south, a rivalry carried with them to the remotest towns which they occupied, and immortalised in the celebrated verses of Nasr ibn Sayyar to which we shall presently refer, has, in his opinion, been exaggerated as a factor in the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, and is consequently relegated to a secondary place.
The condition of the conquered races — not only those who embraced Islam, but also those who continued to profess the Jewish, Christian, and Magian faiths — was, as we C°ub-ectnraceshe nave already seen, tolerable, if not precisely enviable, in the pre-Umayyad days.3 Under the Umayyad rule, however, with its strong racial prejudices and aggressive imperialism, wars and invasions originally under- taken, in part at least, for the propagation of Islam degenerated into mere predatory raids,3 of which booty was the principal
1 The death of Shabib b. Yazid ash-Shaybani, about A.D. 699, is con- sidered by Brunnow (op. cit., p. 49) to mark the end of the more serious Kharijite insurrections.
• Van Vloten, op. cit., pp. 3 and 14-15. 3 Idem, pp. 4-7.
233
it not the sole aim. But this did not suffice to meet the growing luxury and extravagance of the ruling class, and a heavier burden of taxation was constantly imposed on the subject-races, so that the profession of Isldm became to them, from the material point of view, but a doubtful relief. Embezzlement and peculation, moreover, became increasingly common amongst the governors and their myrmidons (sanlla\* who, for the most part, simply strove to enrich themselves by every means in their power during their tenure of office. These peculations were so serious that a regular process of "squeezing" (istikhrdf) came to be practised by each new governor on his predecessor, the right of exercising this privilege being actually bought from the central Government at Damascus. The sums which these tyrannical governors were thus compelled to disgorge were sometimes very great ; thus, for instance, Yusuf ibn 'Umar extracted from his predecessor in the government of 'Iraq, Khalid al-Qasri, and his creatures, no less than seventy million dirhams (about ,£2,800,000). The burden of all these exactions fell ultimately on the wretched peasantry, who had no means of lodging any effective complaint ; and it was aggravated by the humiliating circumstances attendant on the collection of the taxes.2 The old Persian aristocracy and landed proprietors (dihq&n) did, it is true, succeed in preserving much of their power and wealth by embracing Islam and throwing in their lot with the conquerors, to whom their services were needful and their local influence and knowledge indispensable, but for the humbler classes it was not so, for, as Van Vloten remarks, " the ambition and racial pride of the Arabs, combined with their greed, offered an insuperable obstacle to the amelio- ration " of their lot. The " clients " were, indeed, regarded by the Arabs as an inferior race, little better than slaves. " Nothing," says the historian Tabari, in speaking of the revolt of Mukhtar (whose supporters, as we have seen, consisted to a great extent of " clients," or non-Arab Muslims, Maw<), " so 1 Van Vloten, op. at., pp. 9-11. • Idem, pp. 11-12.
234 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
exasperated the [Arab] Kufans as to see Mukhtar assign to the clients ' their share of the spoil. ' You have taken from us our clients,' they cried, 'who are the spoil which God hath destined for us with all this province. We have liberated them, hoping for a reward from God, but you do not trouble yourself about this, and cause them to share in our booty.' " J
Under the government of the cruel and godless tjajjaj ibn Yusuf, converts to Islam were compelled to pay thejizya^ or poll-tax levied on non-Muslims, from which they ought to have been exempt. Their discontent caused them to join the rebellion of 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn Ash'ath in great numbers, but the revolt was quenched in blood, and the " clients " were driven back to their villages, the names of which were branded on their hands.2 The action of al-Hajjdj, as von Kremer remarks, put an end to the hopes entertained by the "clients" and new converts of becoming the equals of the dominant race, but their discontent continued, and was the most potent of the causes which contributed to the downfall of the Umayyad dynasty.3
" Of all the Umayyads," says Dozy,4 " 'Umar II (A.D. 717-720) was the only truly believing and pious prince. He was not moved by
pecuniary interest ; but, on the other hand, the propa- 'Abdu^ -AZIZ gati°n °f the faith was all the more dear to his heart.
The officials found it difficult to adapt themselves to this new principle, which contrasted so strongly with that which had hitherto been in force. ' If things continue in Egypt as at present,' wrote an official to the Caliph, ' the Christians will, without exception, embrace Islam, and the State will lose all its revenues.' 'I should regard it as a great blessing/ replied 'Umar, 'if all the Christians were converted, for God sent His Prophet to act as an apostle, not as a tax-collector.' To the governor of Khurasan, who complained that many of the Persians in his province had only embraced Islam in order to be exempt from the payment of the poll-tax (jizyd), and that they had not caused themselves to be circumcised, he replied in a similar strain, ' God sent Muhammad to make known the true faith
1 Van Vloten, op. cit., p. 16. a Ibid., pp. 17 and 26-27.
3 Strcifzftgc, p. 24. 4 L'Islamismc (Chauvin's translation), pp. 180-181.
'UMAX IBN 'ABDU'L-'AZfZ 235
unto men, not to circumcise them.' ' He did not, therefore, interpret too rigorously the prescriptions of the law : he did not ignore the fact that many conversions were lacking in sincerity, but at the same time he saw, and saw truly, that if the children and grand-children of these converts were brought up as Muslims, they would one day become as good, perhaps even better, believers than the Arabs."
*Umar ibn 'Abdu'l- 'Aziz stands out as a bright and noble
exception amidst the godless, greedy, self-seeking rulers of the
House of Umayya. His rule, it is true, inspired
Character and J J ......
effects of the throughout by considerations or the other world
reigaof'Umarll to /
rather than of this, was disastrous to the revenue ; his methods, faithfully copied from those which prevailed during the Caliphate of his illustrious namesake 'Umar ibnu'l-Khattab, were too conservative — even reactionary — to achieve success ; and the hopes aroused once more in the breasts of the subject- races by his endeavours to secure for them justice and security, but destined only to be crushed again by his successors, did but quicken and strengthen the growing reaction against Arab imperialism. Judged from the worldly point of view, in short, 'Umar II struck a fatal blow at the supremacy of his House and race ; judged by the religious standard he acted as a faithful Muslim should. By his abolition of the public cursing of 'All in the mosques he gained the approbation of all pious Muham- madans, and must to some extent have conciliated the Shi'ite party. The poet Kuthayyir has some verses2 praising him for this, which begin : —
" Thou hast succeeded to the throne, and didst not revile 'AH, not
terrify
The innocent man, nor follow the counsel of the evil-doer; Thou didst speak, and didst confirm what thou didst say by what Thou didst do, and every Muslim became well content."
1 Cf. Van Vloten, op. at., pp. 22-23.
» Cited by al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), pp. i54-<55-
236 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
'Umar's death nearly coincided with the end of the first
Endof the first century of the Muhammadan era, at which time,
5£^Bw£- added to the prevailing discontent of the subject-
•Abbdfidpropa- races, there seems to have been a prevalent belief
that some great revolution was impending.
"In this year" (A.H. IOI=A.D. 719-720), says Dmawari,1 "the Shi'ites sent deputations to the Imam Muhammad b. 'All b. 'Ab- du'llah b. 'Abbas b. 'Abdu'l-Muttalib b. Hashim,* whose abode was in the land of Syria, at a place called al-Humayma. The first of the Shi'ites who thus came forward were Maysara al-'Abdf, Abu 'Ikrima the saddler, Muhammad b. Khunays, and Hayyan the druggist. These came to him, desiring to swear allegiance to him, and said, ' Stretch out thine hand that we may swear allegiance to thee in the endeavour to secure for thee this sovereignty, that perchance by thee God may quicken justice and slay oppression ; for verily now is the time and season of this, which we have found handed down from the most learned amongst you.' Muhammad b. 'All answered them saying, ' This is the season of what we hope and desire herein, because of the completion of a hundred years of the calendar. For verily never do a hundred years pass over a people but God maketh manifest the truth of them that strive to vindicate the right, and bringeth to naught the vanity of them that countenance error, because of the word of God (mighty is His Name) : " Or like him who passed by a village, when it was desolate and turned over on its roofs, and said, ' How shall God revive this after its death ? ' And God made him die for a hundred years, then He raised him up."3 Go, therefore, O man, and summon the people cautiously and secretly, and I pray that God may fulfil your undertaking and make manifest [the fruits of] your Mission ; and there is no power save in Him.' "
Such was the beginning of the celebrated " Mission " or "Propaganda" (dalwa} of the 'Abbasids, which, working silently but surely on the abundant elements of disaffection which already existed, undermined the Umayyad power, and within thirty years overthrew the tottering edifice of their dynasty. The agents of this propaganda (dd^l^ plural dulat] — able, self-devoted men, who, though avoiding any premature
1 Ed. Guirgass, pp. 334 et seqq. * See the table on p. 214 supra,
3 Qur'an ii, 261.
THE l ABB A SID PROPAGANDA 237
outbreak, were at any moment ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause — worked especially on the ferment of discontent which leavened the Persian province of Khurasan, where, as Dinawari tells us (p. 335) —
" They invited the people to swear allegiance to Muhammad b.
'Ali, and sought to disgust them with the rule of the Umayyads by
reason of their evil conduct and their grievous tyranny.
Dinawari cited. , , ¥_, , , , , ,
Many in Khurasan responded to their call, but some- what of their doings becoming known and bruited abroad reached the ears of Sa'id [b. 'Abdu'l-'Aziz b. al-Hakam b. Abu'l-'As, the governor of Khurasan].1 So he sent for them, and when they were brought before him said, ' Who are ye ? ' ' Mer- chants,' they replied. ' And what,' said he, ' is this which is cur- rently reported concerning you ? ' ' What may that be ? ' they asked. ' We are informed,' said he, ' that ye be come as propagandists for the house of 'Abbas.' ' O Amir,' they answered, ' we have sufficient concern for ourselves and our own business to keep us from such doings 1 ' So he let them go ; and they went out from before him, and, departing from Merv, began to journey through the province of Khurasan and the villages thereof in the guise of merchants, sum- moning men unto the Imam Muhammad b. 'Ali. Thus they continued to do for two years, when they returned to the Imam Muhammad b. 'Ali in the land of Syria, and informed him that they had planted in
Khurasan a tree which they hoped would bear fruit in Birth of Abu'l- due season. And they found that there had been born
'Abbas.
unto him his son Abu'l-'Abbas,3 whom he commanded to be brought forth unto them, saying, ' This is your master ; ' and they kissed his limbs all over."
On the support ot the oppressed and slighted Persians
especially the propagandists could reckon, for these were a
wise and capable people with a great past, reduced
Persian support , . .
of 'Abbasid to misery and treated with contempt by a merely
pretensions. . .... . .
martial race, inferior to them in almost every respect save personal valour and love of independence.
1 Called Khuzayna on account of his effeminate manners. See Muir, op, laud., pp. 384-386.
a Afterwards called as-Saffdh (" the Shedder of blood "), who was the first Caliph of the House of 'Abbas.
238 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
Mukhtar and his general, Ibrahim ibnu'l-Ashtar, had already proved the worth of the Persians, from whom, as we have seen,
their ranks were largely, indeed chiefly, recruited.1 £™%?rSd when Furat and 'Umayr, officers in the Syrian *7taSfeta? afmy sent by the Caliph 'Abdu'l-Malik against
Mukhtar, visited Ibnu'l-Ashtar in his camp, they complained that from the time they entered his lines until they reached his presence they had scarcely heard a word of Arabic, and asked him how with such an army he could hope to withstand the picked troops of Syria.
"By God!" replied Ibnu'l-Ashtar, "did I find none but ants [as my allies], yet would I assuredly give battle to the Syrians therewith ; how then in the actual circumstances ? For there is no people endowed with greater discernment wherewith to combat them than these whom thou seest with me, who are none other than the children of the knights and satraps of the Persians." Mukhtar also " promoted those of Persian descent, and assigned gifts to them and their children, and set them in high places, withdrawing from the Arabs, and putting them at a distance, and disappointing them. Thereat were they angered, and their nobles assembled, and came in unto him, and reproached him. But he answered, " May God be remote from none but yourselves ! I honoured you, and you turned up your noses, I gave you authority, and you destroyed the revenues ; but these Persians are more obedient to me than you, and more faithful and swift in the performance of my desire."
There was, however, another party whose support was needed for the success of the 'Abbasid propaganda, namely, the Shi'ites. These, holding in general the same views as to the rights of the Family of the Prophet, yet differed in detail as to which candidate of that house had the better claim.
1 See Dinawari, pp. 300-302, 306, 310, and 315.
SECTS OF THE SHPA 239
Broadlyspeaking,they became divided, on the death of al-Husayn, into two parties, of which the one supported his younger half-brother, Muhammad ibnu'l-Hanafiyya, and the other his son 'All, better known as Zaynu'l-'Abidin.
The former party, on the death of Ibnu'l-Hanafiyya, trans- ferred their allegiance to his son Abu Hdshim (whence they received the name of Hishimiyya). who, as Van
The Hashimiyya , t> •
Vloten thinks,1 was the first to organise a propa- ganda, and to encourage the feelings of adoration with which the Shi'ites were from the first disposed to regard their Imdms and the belief in an esoteric doctrine whereof the keys were com- mitted to his keeping. This Abu Hashim died (poisoned, it is said, by the Umayyad Caliph Sulaymdn) a in A.H. 98 (A.D. 716- 717), bequeathing his rights to Muhammad b. 'All, the head of the House of 'Abbas. Thenceforth the Hashimiyya and the propaganda which they had organised became the willing instruments of the 'Abbasids.
The second party of the Shi'a, or Imdmiyya, were less easily attached to the 'Abbdsid cause, since in their view the
Imam must be of the descendants of 'Ali and
The Imamiyya. ITF L- • i • / « i'
r atima, their actual Imam at this time being 'Ah Zaynu'l-'Abidin, the son of al-Husayn, who died in A.H. 99 or 100 (A.D. 7 1 8). 3 To secure the support of these, the 'Abbasid propaganda was carried on in the name of Hdshim, the common ancestor of both 'Abbasids and 'Alids, and only at the last, when success was achieved, was it made clear, to the bitter disappointment of 'All's partisans, that the House of 'Abbas was to profit by their labours to the exclusion of the House of 'All.
So the propaganda continued actively but silently. Some- times the propagandists would be taken and put to death by the Government, as happened to Abu 'Ikrima and Hayydn, in whose place, however, five others were immediately despatched
1 Rccherches sur la Domination arabe, pp. 44-45. * Al-Ya'qubi (ed. Houtsma), vol. ii, p. 356. s Ibid., p. 363.
240 THE VMAYYAD PERIOD
to Khurasan, with orders to be cautious and prudent, and to disclose nothing until they had put a binding oath on the inquirer.1 During the reign of Hisham, while Khalid was governor of 'Iraq, several strange and serious outbreaks ot Kharijites and Shi'ites occurred, the leaders of which were in several cases burned to death.2 In Khurasan, on the other hand, a somewhat unwise leniency was shown by the Caliph, in spite of the warnings of his governor, towards the 'Abbasid propagandists^ whose movements were controlled and directed by a council of twelve naqibs and a Senate of seventy sub- ordinate chiefs.4 Now and then, however, some dd^l would break loose from control and preach the wildest doctrines ot the extreme Shi'ites (al-Ghulat], as happened in the case of al-Khaddash, who was put to death in A.D. 736. For further information concerning him and the Rawandis and Khurramis we must refer the reader to Van Vloten's masterly study (pp. 47-51), and to ch. ix. infra.
About A.D. 743, Muhammad b. cAli the 'Abbasid died, after
nominating as his successors first his son Ibrahim, and after
him his other sons Abu'l-'Abbds and Abu Ja'far,
DeathHof '*?*?*' of whom the first was put to death by Marwan II,
mad b. 'All. /
the last Umayyad Caliph, about A.D. 747-748, while the two others lived to enjoy the fruits of the long and arduous labours of the 'Abbasid propaganda, and to inaugurate the 'Abbasid Caliphate. About the same time, too, appeared on the scene that remarkable man, Abu Muslim who, having
contributed more than any one else to the over- Abu Muslim. /-ITT i i L r i
throw of the Umayyads and the victory or the 'Abbasids, himself at last fell a victim to the jealousy ot those who owed him so great a debt of gratitude.
Everything now portended that the final struggle was at hand. Marwan II, nicknamed " the Ass " (al-Himdr] on account of his endurance in battle, succeeded to the throne in
1 Dinawarf, pp. 336-338. • Muir, op. land., pp. 39T~392
3 Dinawari, p. 338. « Van Vloten, op. laud., p. 47
PRESAGES OF DISASTER 241
A.D. 745, and men remembered the prophecy that in the " Year of the Ass " deliverance should come, and that *-Ayn the son of'Ayn the son of'Ayn ('Abdu'llah b. <Ali b. 'Abdu'llah, i.e., Abu'l-'Abbas, afterwards known as as-Saffah) would kill Mlm the son of Mlm the son of Mlm ( Marwan the son of Muhammad the son of Marwan, the last Umayyad Caliph).1 Such dark sayings were widely current and greedily absorbed, while the apocryphal books of the Jews and Christians, prophetic poems (malahlm\ and the like were eagerly studied by the long-suffering subject- races, who felt that now at length their deliverance was at hand, and that the Advent of the Promised One " who should fill the earth with justice after that it had been filled with iniquity " could not long be deferred. Only the Caliph Marwan and his courtiers seemed blind to the signs of the gathering storm, and that in spite of the repeated warnings of his lieutenants in the East, notably Nasr ibn
WarnlngsofNasr ' '
b. Sayyar to the bayyar, the governor or Khurasan, who wrote to
Umayyads. . . , , , ,,
him that 200,000 men had sworn allegiance to Abu Muslim, and concluded his letter with some very fine and very celebrated verses, of which the translation is as follows a: —
"/ see amidst the embers the glow of fire, and it wants but little to
burst into a blaze, And if the wise ones of the people quench it not, its fuel will be
corpses and skulls. Verily fire is kindled by two sticks, and verily words are the
beginning of warfare. And I cry in amazement, ' Would that I knew whether the House
of Umayya were awake or asleep t ' "
To the Arab garrisons too, torn by tribal feuds and heedless of the impending danger, he addressed the following verses 3: —
1 See Van Vloten, op. laud., p. 57.
a See al-Fakhri, p. 170 ; Dinawari, p. 356 ; al-Ya'qubi, vol. ii, p. 408 ; Noldeke's Delectus carminum arabicorum, pp. 87-88, &c. 3 Noldeke, op. laud., p. 88.
17
242 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
" Tell those of Rabi'a in Merv and her brethren * to rise in wrath
ere wrath shall avail nothing, And to declare war ; for verily the people have raised a war on
the skirts of which the wood is ablaze I What ails you that ye stir up strife amongst yourselves, as though
men of sense were absent from among you,
And neglect an enemy who already overshadows you, a hetero- geneous horde, devoid alike of religion and nobility ? They are no Arabs of ours that we should know them, nor even
decent clients, if their pedigree be declared, But a people who hold a faith whereof I never heard from the
Prophet, and which the Scriptures never brought, And should one question me as to the essence of their religion,
verily their religion is that the Arabs should be slain/"
Vain, however, were these and other warnings.2 Khurisan was seething with disaffection and revolt, and Abu Muslim,
having assured himself at length that all was Biackla^rd rea(ty, raised the Black Standard 3 of the 'Abbasids junsTo^D1^8' at tne viHag6 °f Siqadanj, near Merv, on June 9,
A.D. 747. This standard bore the following significant inscription from the Qur'an : Permission [to fight] is accorded to those who take up arms because they have been unjustly treated" Yet for a while the insurrection did not spread beyond the extreme north-east of Khurasan, Nasa, Biward, Herdt, Marwarudh, and the surrounding regions. In response to the appeal of Nasr b. Sayyar the Caliph Marwan wrote : 4 " Verily he who is present seeth what he who is absent seeth not : do thou, then, treat this disease which hath appeared amongst you ! " The only practical step which it occurred to him to take was to seize, imprison, and poison Ibrahim the
1 I.e., the other towns of Khurasan.
2 See the gloomy but forcible verses of the poet Harith b. 'Abdu'llah al-Ja'di and of the Umayyad prince 'Abbas b. al-Walid cited by Van Vloten (op. laud., pp. 62-63) ! also Dinawari, pp. 358 and 359.
3 Concerning the significance of the black standards and apparel adopted by the ' Abbasids (hence called al-Musawwida), see Van Vloten, op laud., pp. 63-65, and references there given.
1 Al-Fakhri, pp. 170-171.
THE REVOLUTION 243
* Abbasid, whereupon his two brothers Abu'l-'Abbas and Abu Ja'far, accompanied by some of their kinsmen, fled from al-Humayma, their home in Syria, and escaped to Kufa, where they were concealed and cared for by Abu Salma and other leading men of the SM'ites.
" Then," says al-Fakhri,1 " there occurred between Abu Muslim and Nasr b. Sayyar and the other Amirs of Khurasan engagements and battles wherein the victory was to the Musawwida, that is the army of Abu Muslim, who were called Musaitii'ida [' the people who make black '] because the raiment which they chose for the House of 'Abbas was black in colour. Regard now the Power of God (exalted is He !), and how, when He willeth aught, He prepares the means therefor, and how, when He desireth anything, nothing can oppose His command; So when He had decreed that the dominion should pass unto the House of 'Abbas, He prepared for them all the means thereto. For the Imam Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. 'Abdu'llah b. al-'Abbas was in Syria or in the Hijaz, seated on his prayer-mat, occupied with him- self, his devotions, and the concerns of his family, and not possessed of any great worldly power, while the people of Khurasan fought for him, risking their lives and property for him, though most of them neither knew him, nor could distinguish between his name and his personality. . . . Nor did he spend on them any wealth, or bestow on any one of them horse or arms ; nay rather it was they who bestowed wealth on him and brought him tribute every year. And since God had decreed the abasement of Marwan and the disruption of the kingdom of the Umayyads, although Marwan was the acknowledged Caliph, and was possessed of armies, and wealth, and weapons, and worldly goods to the fullest extent, yet did men desert in all directions from him, and his authority waxed weaker, and his tenure was shaken, and he ceased not being worsted till he was routed and slain."
The enthusiasm of the Musawwida and their devotion to Abu Muslim — " homme sombre et dur que les jouissances de ce monde n'occupaient guere"2 — were unbounded, while their obedience was such that they would neither accept ransoms nor slay the enemy who lay at their feet without the command
Pp. 171-172. • Van Vloten, op, laud., pp. 65-68.
244 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
of their chiefs. Amongst the Arabs, on the other hand, there was an utter lack of enthusiasm, patriotism, or loyalty ; " chacun avait en vue ses interets personnels ou tout au plus 1'interet de sa tribu : se deVouer pour les Omayades personne n'y pensait ; meme s'il faut en croire Ya'qoubi, les Y£m£nites de Merw £taient tout a fait gagn£s aux sentiments chiitiques." Yet Abu Muslim proceeded with caution and deliberation. For seven months he maintained his army in the neighbour- hood of Merv without attempting any serious advance, and only when assured of the support of the Yamanite Arabs did he at length seize and occupy the capital of Khurdsan. Then indeed the insurrection became general1 : —
" They poured in from all sides to join Abu Muslim, from Herat, Bushanj, Marwarudh, Talaqan, Merv, Nishapur, Sarakhs, Balkh, Saghaniyan, Tukharistan, the country of the Khuttal, Kashsh, and Nasaf (Nakhshab).1 They came all clothed in black, and carrying clubs half blackened which they called kdftr-kub (maces wherewith to beat the unbelievers).3 They kept arriving on horse, on foot, on asses. They urged on their asses with cries of ' harra Marwdn ! ' because Marwan II was surnamed 'the Ass (al-Himdr). They numbered about 100,000 men."
From this moment till AbuVAbbas 'Abdu'llah as-Safdh (also entitled al-Mahdl\ first Caliph of the House of 'Abbis, inaugurated his reign on October 30, A.D. 749, by pronouncing the khutba, or homily, customary on such occasions, the pro- gress of Abu Muslim and the other 'Abbasid leaders was one continuous triumph. Nasr ibn Sayyar — "le seul homme loyal, et qu'on est heureux de rencontrer dans ces temps des perfidie et d'e"goisme" — died a fugitive at Sawa in November, A.D. 748 ; Kufa was occupied by Qahtaba in August, A.D. 749 ; in the same month Marwan's son 'Abdu'llah was utterly routed on
1 Van Vloten, op. laud., p. 67 ; Dinawari, p. 360.
3 It is noticeable that Dinawari reads kdfar-kubdt. Though kdfir is thf correct form, kdfar is the recognised Persian pronunciation, as is shown by the words (sar, bar, &c.) with which it is made to rhyme in Persian verses even of the earliest period.
DISILLUS10NMENJ 245
the lesser Zab by Abu 'Awn ; Marwin himself suffered final and irrevocable defeat on the river Zab on January 25, A.D. 750 ; Damascus, the Umayyad capital, was occupied three months later ; and Marwan, last Caliph of the House of Umayya, a fugitive in Egypt, was finally taken and slain on August fth of the same year, and his head sent to Abu'l-'Abbas. General massacres of members of the Umayyad family, accom- panied in most cases by circumstances of inhuman cruelty and revolting treachery, took place in the following year (A.D. 751) in Palestine, at Basra, and even in the sacred cities of Mecca and Madfna. One, Abdu'r-Rahmdn, the grandson of Hisham, after many hairbreadth escapes, ultimately made his way to Spain, and, being well received by the Arabs there settled, founded the Umayyad dynasty of Cordova, which endured for nearly three centuries (A.D. 756-1031). The desecration of the tombs of the Umayyad Caliphs at Damascus, and the exhumation of their bodies, has also been cast as a reproach against the 'Abbasids T ; but since this practice has been recently revived by an English general, and condoned if not applauded
by the majority of his countrymen, it would hardly afiSmMy°Tthet t>eseem us to denounce it too violently. sup«voiuTion the ^n any case tne 'Abbasids, even when, wading
through seas of blood, they had finally grasped the Caliphate and become sole and undisputed masters of the Eastern Empire of Islam, were very far from " filling the earth with justice," so that we find a poet exclaiming3 : —
"O would that the tyranny of the children of Marwdn might return
to us,
And would that the justice of the children of ' Abbas were in hell-fire I "
Many of those who had worked most strenuously for the revolution were most bitterly disappointed when it was an accomplished fact. 3 More especially was this so in the case of
1 Muir, op. laud., pp. 435-436.
• Aghdni, xvi, p. 84, cited by Van Vloten, op. lattd., p. 69.
» Van Vloten, op. laud., p. 69,
246 THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
the Shi'ites, who, misled by the delusive belief that by the term " Hashimites," in whose name the propaganda was carried on, the House of 'Ali was intended, discovered, when it was too late, that not even in the Umayyads had the true descendants of the Prophet enemies more implacable than in their " Hashi- mite " cousins of the House of 'Abbas. The 'Abbasids did not even spare their own chosen instruments ;
Abii Salma and ..--pi i 1 j j
AbuMubUmput Abu balma was treacherously murdered in A.D. 749-750 ; and Abu Muslim himself, to whose untiring zeal, rare genius, and relentless activity the 'Abbasid triumph was chiefly due, suffered a like fate four or five years later (A.D. 755). r For him, indeed, in spite of his rare abilities, we can feel little pity, for on his own admission 2 the number of those whom he caused to be slain in cold blood, apart from those slain in battle, amounted to 100,000 persons, while by others 3 their number is raised to 600,000. Yet did
he inspire in his followers a rare devotion, ex- immense influ- ,. ii/r i- if !_• » u
enceof Abu tending even to non-Muslims : "in his time, the historian tells us,4 "the dihqans [Persian landed proprietors] abandoned the religion of the Magians and were converted to Islam." Speaking of the Khurramis, ultra- Shi'ites, and other exalted visionaries and syncretists, Van Vloten says : 5 " Many of them regarded him as the only true Imam ; it is even possible that he may have been considered as one of the descendants of Zoroaster, Oshederbami, or Oshe- derma, whose advent, in a role similar to that of the Muham- madan Mahdi, was expected by the Magians. These sects would not believe in the death of Abu Muslim, they awaited
1 All the Imams of the Shi'ite " Sect of the Twelve " who lived in ' Abbasid times are believed by their followers to have been put to death (generally secretly, by poison) by these Caliphs, with the exception of the twelfth, the Imam Mahdi, whom they believe to have been miraculously preserved till our own time in the mysterious City of Jabalqa, whence he will come forth in the " Trouble of the Last Time."
a Al-Ya'qubi, vol. ii, p. 439. 3 Muir, op. laud., p. 446 ad calc.
* Ibn Abi Tahir, cited by Van Vloten, op. laud., p. 67, and n. 4 ad calc.
s Op. laud., p. 68,
EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION 247
his return to fill the earth with justice. Others held that the Imdmate passed to his daughter Fatima. A certain Ishaq " the Turk " x escaped into Transoxiana after the death of Abu Muslim, whose ddH [missionary, or propagandist] he claimed to be, and maintained that his master was concealed in the city of Ray. Later he pretended to be a prophet sent by Zoroaster, who, according to him, had not ceased 'to live."
Of the Khurramisor Khurram-diniyya, whose essential tenets
appear to have been those of Mazdak (see pp. 168-172 supra),
we continue to hear for another century, and
Thdiniylyl.am" the more or less serious revolts in Persia headed
by the pseudo-prophets Sinbddh the Magian
(A.D. 754-5), Ustddhsis (A.D. 766-768), Yiisuf al-Barm and
al-Muqanna' "the veiled Prophet of Khurasan" (A.D. 777-780),
'All Mazdak (A.D. 833), and Babak (A.D. 816-838) were in
most cases associated with the memory of Abu Muslim.
If it did nothing else, however, the revolution which placed the 'Abbdsids on the throne entirely altered the status of the Persians, who at once rose from the position of a despised and slighted subject-race to the highest and most influential offices and commands. It was their swords which won the victory for the House of 'Abbas, whom al-Birum, not without good reason, calls "a Khurasanf, an Eastern dynasty "; 2 and it may truly be said that Qadisiyya and Nahdwand were avenged on the banks of the Zab. The fall of the Umayyads was the end of the purely Arabian period.3
1 As explained in the Fihrist (p. 345) he was called " the Turk " only because he carried on his propaganda in the Turkish lands.
3 Chronology of Ancient Nations, Sachau's transl., p. 197.
3 See the text (pp. 69-70) and translation (pp. 31-32) of the remarkable poem given by Von Kremer in his Streifzuge. The Arab poet bitterly complains of the haughty arrogance assumed by the Persian and Naba- thean mawltis, or " clients," who were formerly so humble.
BOOK III
ON THE EARLY 'ABBASID PERIOD, OR GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
CHAPTER VII
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM (A.D. 749-847), FROM THE ACCESSION OF AS-SAFFAH TO THE DEATH OF A
THE general characteristics of the 'Abbdsid dynasty, and
the nature of the forces which contributed to its establishment
and the overthrow of the Umayyads, have been to
General charac- .. . . , . , r,.
teristics of the some extent discussed in the last chapter. Sir
William Muir, in the short introductory remarks
which he prefixes to his account of this illustrious house
(op. laud., pp. 430-432) emphasises three features in particular
wherein this period differs from the last ; firstly,
Ch^ra£t7ei??e^ by that the Caliphate was no longer coextensive with
Sir \V. Muir.
the limits of Islam (since Spain never accepted 'Abbasid rule, and the allegiance of Africa was fitful and imperfect) ; secondly, that the martial vigour of the Arabs declined along with their fervent faith, and that they ceased to play the predominant role in the history of Islam j thirdly, that Persian, and later Turkish, influences became all-powerful at the centre of government, now transferred from Syria to clrdq.
"With the rise of Persian influence," he adds (p. 432), "the roughness of Arab life was softened ; and there opened an era of culture, toleration, and scientific research. The practice of oral tradition was also giving place to recorded statement and historical narrative, — a change hastened by the scholarly tendencies introduced from the East. To the same source may be attributed the evcr-
251
252 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
increasing laxity at Court of manners and morality ; and also those transcendental views that now sprung up of the divine Imamate, or spiritual leadership, of some member of the House of 'Ali ; as well as the rapid growth of free thought. These things will be developed as we go on. But I have thought it well to draw attention at this point to the important changes wrought by the closer con- nection of the Caliphate with Persia and Khurasan caused by the accession of the 'Abbasids."
In a similar strain Dozy writes1: —
"The ascendancy of the Persians over the Arabs, that is to say of the conquered over the victors, had already for a long
while been in course of preparation ; it became CharaDoeznySedby complete when the 'Abbasids, who owed their
elevation to the Persians, ascended the throne. These princes made it a rule to be on their guard against the Arabs, and to put their trust only in foreigners, Persians,3 especially those of Khurasan, with whom, therefore, they had to make friends. The most distinguished personages at court were consequently Persians. The famous Barmecides were descended from a Persian noble who had been superintendent of the Fire-temple at Balkh. Afshin, the all-powerful favourite of the Caliph al-Mu'tasim, was a scion of the princes of Usrushna in Transoxiana. The Arabs, it is true, murmured, and endeavoured to regain their ancient preponderance. The war which broke out between the two brothers al-Amm and al-Ma'mun, the sons of Harunu'r-Rashid, was in its essence merely the renewal of the war waged between the Arab and Persian nationalities for the supremacy. But the Arabs again experienced a check ; again, cost them what it might, they had to recognise the supremacy of Persia ; again they were compelled to watch as passive spectators a change of government dependent on the defeat of one of these races by the other and resulting from it. The democratic point of view of the Arabs was, indeed, replaced by the despotic ideas of the Persians."
" Know," says that charming historian al-Fakhri,' " that the 'Abbasid dynasty was a treacherous, wily, and faithless dynasty,
wherein intrigue and guile played a greater part Characfcrtwdby than strength and energy, particularly in its latter
days. Indeed the later rulers of this House lost
Hist, de I'lslamisme translated by Victor Chauvin, pp. 228-229. • See Tabari's Annals, iii, 1142. 3 £d. Ahhvardt, pp. 176-177.
CHARACTER OF 'ABBASID RULE 253
all faculty of energy and courage, and relied solely on tricks and stratagems. To this effect speaks the poet Ibn Kushajim,1 alluding to the truce observed by the people of the sword and the hostility and enmity of the people of the pen one to another : —
' Pleasant to the people of the sword be that idleness Whereby their days are passed in self-indulgence f How many a man is there amongst them who lives a tranquil
life, and has never stirred forth
To any war, nor ever attacked a resolute and equal adversary I Evening and morning he struts about, girding to his sword-belt A sword secure from serious work, which has never risked
fracture.
But as for the people of the pen, at no moment Are their swords dry of blood'
" In the same strain sang a certain poet when al-Mutawakkil slew his minister Muhammad b. 'Abdu'l-Malik az-Zayyat : —
' The heart was like to leave me for distress When it was said, " The Wazir is slain ! " O Commander of the Faithful, thou hast slain one Who was the axle on which your mill revolved/ Gently, O sons of al-'Abbds, gently f For in truth men's hearts- burn at your treachery t
" Yet withal it was a dynasty abounding in good qualities, richly endowed with generous attributes, wherein the wares of Science found a ready sale, the merchandise of Culture was in great demand, the observances of Religion were respected, charitable bequests flowed freely, the world was prosperous, the Holy Shrines were well cared for, and the frontiers were bravely kept. Nor did this state of things cease until its last days were at hand, and violence became general, government was disturbed, and empire passed from them, all of which will be set forth in its proper place, if God please."
As it is not my intention to discuss in detail the reigns or characters of the Caliphs of this House, or to repeat anecdotes of Harunu'r-Rashid's nocturnal rambles through
1 Abu'1-Fath Mahmud b. al-Husayn b. Shahaq, called as-Sindi, because of his Indian descent, died 961 or 971. See Brockelmann's Arab. Literatnrgesch., p. 85, and p. 371 infra.
254 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
the streets of Baghdad in the company of Ja'far the Barmecide and Masrur the black executioner, which are familiar to all readers of the Thousand and One Nights, and of which a copious selection will be found in the late Professor Palmer's enter- taining little volume on that celebrated monarch,1 I here append, for the convenience of the reader, a table of the 'Abbasid Caliphs of this earlier period, adapted from Stanley Lane-Poole's excellent Muhammadan Dynasties (London, 1894).
•Ali b. 'Abdu'Mh b. 'ABBAS I
|
Muhammad 1 |
•Abdu'lldh Mi |
sd Sulaymdn 1 |
|
|
IbrdMm |
I. -Sat'tah |
2. 3 |
-Mansur '** -Mahdi 1 |
|
4. -Hadi |
5- |
-Rashid -Ma \ |
njut Ibrahim |
|
1 6. -Aniiu |
7. -Ma'mun |
8 |
1 -Mu'tasim 1 ' |
Muhammad 9. -Wathiq 10. -Mutawakkil
I . | J
2. -Musta'in 14. -Muhtadi n. -Muntasir 13. -Mu
'tazz 15. Mu'tamid -Muwaffaq Ibnu'l-Mu'lazs 16. -Mu'tadid
The first century of the dynasty, from its establishment till the death of al-Wathiq and accession of al-Mutawakkil (A.H. 132-232 = A.D. 750-847), will chiefly be dealt with in this Third Book. It is the Golden Age of the Caliphate, and is characterised by the ascendancy of Persian influence, typified in the celebrated and noble Barmecides (descendants of Barmak), by the wit and learning so much in fashion at the Court, and by the complete dominance of the broad and liberal Mu'tazilite doctrines in the field of religion. With the accession of the tenth Caliph, al-Mutawakkil, Turkish influences (always somewhat barbarous in many aspects, and seldom favourable to free thought and enlightened intellec-
1 New Plutarch series, Haronn Alraschid, London, 1881.
THE OFFICE OF WAZtR 255
tuality) largely displaced Persian ; the Mu'tazilite doctrine, no longer patronised by Royalty, was supplanted by what now passes current as orthodoxy, to the great detriment of philosophical speculation ; and for a time a violent anti-Shicite bias was displayed. This earlier period of the 'Abbdsid Caliphate is therefore well defined, both in respect to racial dominance and religious tendencies, and reached its culminating point in the splendid reign of al-Ma'mun, whose mother x and wife 2 were both Persians, and whose ministers, favourites, and personal characteristics were, for the most part, Persian also. " We have seen," says Professor Palmer, " how the Arabs perforce left the actual administration of the conquered countries in the hands of native officials. The 'Abbdsids owing their rise entirely to Persian influence, it was only natural that Persian counsels should prevail, and we accord- ingly find a minister of Persian extraction at the head of affairs, and the Caliphate carried on by almost precisely the same machinery as that by which the Empire of the Sdsinians was governed."
To this machinery belonged, amongst other things, the
office of JiTazlr (of which " Vizier " is the commoner, though
less correct, form in English books), a word
^SS^S^Sf^ commonly derived from the Arabic root wizr " a
otncc 01 Witzir. *
burden," because the Wazir bears the burden of administration, but probably identical in reality, as Darmesteter has shown,3 with the Pahlawi vi-chlr (from vl-chira^ " to
1 " Much," says von Kremer (Cult. Streifznge, p. 41 ad calc.), " is explained by the circumstance that Ma'mun's mother was a Persian, a statement which is found in an ancient and well-informed author (de Goeje, Fragm. Hist. Arab., I, 350)."
2 Piiran, the daughter of Hasan b. Sahl, and niece of the celebrated Fadl b. Sahl, al-Ma'mun's wazir. The gorgeous ceremonies observed in connection with her marriage are detailed by Ibn Khallikan (de Slane's translation, vol. i, pp. 268-270), and in the Latd'ifu'l-Ma'iiii/ of ath-Tha'alibi (ed. de Jong, pp. 73-74).
» £tndes iraniennes, vol. i, p. 58, and n, 3 ad. calc.
256 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
decide "), gaztr in the Talmud. Of the history of this office al-Fakhrf x gives the following account : —
" Before entering more fully into this matter, we must needs say a few prefatory words on this subject. I say, then, that the Wazir is .,„,., one who is intermediate between the king and
Al-Fakhn on the . &
history of this his subjects, so there must needs be in his nature one aspect which accords with the natures of kings, and another aspect which accords with the natures of the common folk, so that he may deal with both classes in such a manner as to secure for himself acceptance and affection ; while trustworthiness and sincerity constitute his capital. It is said, ' When the ambassador plays the traitor, policy avails naught ; ' and it is also said, 'The man belied hath no opinion ;'" so it is important for him to be efficient and vigorous, and necessary that he should possess intelligence, wariness, cunning, and resolution. It is like- wise needful that he should be generous and hospitable, that thereby he may incline men's necks to his yoke, and that his thanks may be on the tongues of all ; nor can he dispense with gentleness, patience, stability in affairs, clemency, dignity, gravity, and an authoritative address. . . . Now the rules of the Wazirate were not fixed, nor the laws which govern it set in order, before the dynasty of the 'Abbasids. Before that time its rules were indeterminate and its laws unsettled ; nay, rather each king was surrounded by certain courtiers and retainers, and, when any important crisis arose, he took counsel of such as were most sagacious and wise in council, each of whom, therefore, acted as Wazir. But when the 'Abbasids came to the throne, the laws of the Wazirate were fixed, and the Wazir was named Wazir, having hitherto been entitled Secretary (Kdtib], or Counsellor (Mushir). Lexicographers say that u-azar means 'a place of refuge,' 'an asylum,' and that wizr means ' burden,' so that Wazir is either derived from wizr, in which case it means that he ' bears the burden,' or from wazar, in which case it means that the king has recourse to his judgment and counsel."
But the office of Wazir, for all the power and dignity which
it carried with it, was a perilous one. Abu
KTheCofficaeC: Muslim, entitled Aminu All Muhammad, "the
Trusted Agent of the Family of Muhammad," was,
* Ed. Ahlwardt, pp. 179-181.
" I.e., No heed is paid to the views or statements of one who has been proved a liar.
THE OFFICE OF WAZ/R 257
as we have seen, treacherously murdered by al-Mansiir (A.D. 754-755), after he himself had, by order of as-SafFah, caused Abu Salama, who first bore the title of /i^/z/r, to be assassinated (A.D. 749-750). Abu'1-Jahm, who succeeded him, was poisoned by his master. Feeling the poison work within him, he rose up to leave the room. "Whither away ? " asked the Caliph. " To where thou hast sent me," answered the unfortunate minister.1 His death coincided with the rise to power of the great and noble Persian family
The Barmecides. r & /
of the Barmecides, or descendants of rJarmak, who for fifty years (A.D. 752-804) so wisely directed the affairs of the Caliphate, and, by their generous patronage of learning, lavish hospitality, and wise administration, conferred such lustre upon the reigns of the first five 'AbbAsid Caliphs, till the in- sensate jealousy of Kuriinu'r-Rashid led him to destroy Ja'far and al-Fadl, the sons of Yahyi, the son of Khalid, the son of Barmak, and many members of their family. Barmak, their ancestor, was a Magian, and the high priest of the great Fire- Temple of Nawbahar at Balkh. Mas'udi tells us (Murujudh- Dhabab, iv, 48) that —
"He who exercised these functions was respected by the kings of tliis country, and administered the wealth offered to the temple. He was called Barmak, a name given to all those invested with this dignity, whence is derived the name of the Barmecides (Barmaki, pi. Bardmika) ; for Khalid b. Barmak was the son of one of these great pontiffs."
In support of this view that Barmak was really a title rather than a name we may also cite the words of the geographer al-Qazwini (Athari* t l-Bildd ', pp. 221-222, s.v., Balkh) : —
"The Persians and Turks used to revere it [the Temple of Nawbahar] and perform pilgrimages to it, and present offerings to it. Its length was one hundred cubits, its breadth the same, and its
1 Al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt, pp. 183-4).
18
258 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
height somewhat more, and the care of it was invested in the Bardmika. The Kings of India and China used to come to it, and when they reached it they worshipped the idol, and kissed Barmak's hand, and Barmak's rule was paramount in all these lands. And they ceased not, Barmak after Barmak, until Khurasan was con- quered in the days of 'Uthman b. 'Affan, and the guardianship of the temple came at length to Barmak the father of Khalid."
The Barmecides naturally used their great influence in favour of their compatriots, but they had to be careful lest a too evident partiality for the institutions of Persia should bring them under suspicion of being still at heart Magians. Thus, whilst engaged in constructing his new capital of Baghdad, the Caliph al-Mansur was advised by Abu Ayyiib al-Muriyani to destroy the Sasanian palace known as Ayw&n-i-Kisra, and utilise the material for building purposes. He consulted Khalid b. Barmak, who replied, "Do not this thing, O Commander of the Faithful, for verily it is a sign of the triumph of Islam, for when men see it they know that only a heavenly dispensation could destroy the like of this building, besides which it was the place of prayer of 'All b. Abu Talib. The expense of destroying it is, moreover, greater than what will be gained thereby." " O Khalid," answered al-Mansur, " thou hast naught but partiality for all that is Persian ! " Khalid's prophecy as to the labour and expense involved in its destruction proved, however, to be correct, and so one day the Caliph said to him, "O Khalid, we have come over to thine opinion, and have abandoned the destruction of the palace." " O Commander of the Faithful," said Khalid, " I advise thee now to destroy it, lest men should say that thou wert unable to destroy what another built ! " Fortunately, however, the Caliph again refused to follow his advice (given, no doubt, from prudential motives, on account of what the Caliph had said to him before), and the demolition of the palace was suspended.1
1 Al-Fakhri, pp. 185, 186 ; Tabari, ser. iii, p. 320
REVIVAL OF PERSIAN CUSTOMS 259
Another old Persian custom reintroduced very early
in the 'Abbdsid period was the observance of the Festival
of the New Year (Nawruz)* the first day of
Revival of Per- .
sian festival of the Persian solar year, corresponding: with the
Nawruz. '
vernal equinox and the entry of the sun into the sign of Aries.
"In the time of Harunu'r-Rashi'd," says al-Birunf,1 "the land- holders assembled again and called on Yahya the son of Khalid the son of Barmak, asking him to postpone the Nawruz by about two months.* Yahya intended so to do, but then his enemies began to speak of the subject, and said, ' He is partial to Zoroastrianism.' So he dropped the subject, and the matter remained as it was before."
Von Kremer, in those admirable works which we have already so often had occasion to cite, treats fully of the Persian influences which were everywhere active, and which so largely moulded not only the organisation of the Church and State, but, in 'Abbdsid times, even the fashions of dress, food, music and the like.
"Persian influence," he says,3 "increased at the Court of the Caliphs, and reached its zenith under al-Hadi, Hariinu'r-Rashid, and al-Ma'mun. Most of the ministers of the last were Persians or of
Persian extraction. In Baghdad Persian fashions opt°edS continued to enjoy an increasing ascendancy. The
old Persian festivals of the Nawruz, Mihrgan, and Ram were celebrated. Persian raiment was the official court dress, and the tall, black, conical Persian hats (qalanstiwa, pi. qaldnis) . . . were already prescribed as official by the second 'Abbasid Caliph (in A.H. 153 = A.D. 770). At the court the customs of the Sasanian kings were imitated, and garments decorated with golden inscrip- tions were introduced, which it was the exclusive privilege of the ruler to bestow. A coin of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil shows us this Prince actually clothed in true Persian fashion."
1 Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's trans.), p. 37- 9 The abolition of the old system of intercalation having caused it to recede, so that it fell at a time before the crops were ripe, thus causing much loss to the farmers, since the taxes had to be paid at this time. 3 Streifziige, pp. 32-33.
260 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
But it Persian influences were thus dominant at the 'Abbasid court, and Persian fashions thus prevalent amongst its frequenters, the activity of this talented people was even more conspicuous in the realm of literature and science.
" Not only in the government are the foreigners always to the front,'1 says Goldziher in the illuminating chapter 'Arab und 'Ajam (Arabs and Persians) in his Muhammedanische Studicn (vol. i, p. 109) ; " we find them also in the foremost ranks even in the specifically religious sciences. ' It almost seems,' says von Kremer,1 that these scientific studies (Reading and Exegesis of the Qur'an, Sciences of Tradition and Law), were, during the first two centuries [of the hijra], principally worked by clients \_Mawdll, i.e., non-Arab Muslims], while the Arabs proper felt themselves more drawn to the study of their ancient poetry, and to the development and imitation of the same ; but, we would add, even in this field they were often outstripped by the foreigners, whose men of learning in no small degree advanced this sphere of the Arabian genius by literary and historical studies on the antiquities of the Arabs, by thorough critical researches, and so forth. It would be superfluous to ciie here the many names whereof the mere sound affords proof of what Arabic Grammar and Lexicology owe to non-Arabs, and even if we cannot permit Paul de Lagarcle's assertion a that ' of the Muhammadans who have achieved anything in Science, not one was a Semite ' to pass in this absolute form, yet so much at least may be said, that alike in the specially religious studies as in those which grew up round the study of the Arabic speech, the Arabian element lagged far behind the non- Arabian. And this was principally the fault of the Arabs themselves. They looked down with sovereign contempt on the studies so zealously prosecuted by the non-Arabs, considering that such trivialities were unworthy of men who could boast so proud an ancestry, but befitted only the pedagogue, anxious to gloss over with such pigments his dingy genealogy. ./It befits not the Qurayshites ' — in such words a full- blooded Arab expresses himself — ' to go deeply into any study save that of the old histories [of the Arabs], especially now, when one has to bend the bow and attack the enemy.' 3 Once a Qurayshite,
1 Culturgesch. Streifznge, p. 16. * Gesammelte Abhandl., p. 8, n. 4.
3 Cited from the Kitdbu'l-Bayan wa't-Tabyin of al-Jahidh. This work has now been printed at Cairo (A.H. 1313 =A.D. 1895-6), but Goldziher used it in manuscript, as he wrote in or before 1889. He also refers to the
CONTEMPT OF ARABS FOR LETTERS 261
observing an Arab child studying the Book of Sibawayhi,1 could not refrain from exclaiming, ' Fie upon thee ! That is the learning of schoolmasters and the pride of beggars ! ' For it was reckoned as a jest that any one who was a grammarian, prosodist, accountant or jurist (for the science last mentioned arithmetic is indispensable) would give instruction in these subjects to little children for sixty dirhams (for what length of time is not, unfortunately, men- tioned)."
The Arabs of the Jahiliyyat, or pagan time, were, as Gold- ziher fully shows, so little familiar with the art of writing
(save in the case of those who had come under
^tekndendersry Jewish, Christian, Greek, or Persian influences)
apurenfrabs? tnat an °^ Poet distinguishes a wise man from
whom he cites a sentence as "he who dictates writing on parchment, whereon the scribe writes it down ; " and that even in the Prophet's time they were not much more literate is shown, as he says, not only by the strange materials on which the Qur'an was inscribed, but also by the fact that those taken captive at the Battle of Badr could, if they pos- sessed a knowledge of writing, obtain their liberty without paying any further ransom. Al-Waqidi, cited by al-Baladhuri (Futlthu l-Buldbn^ ed. de Goeje, pp. 471-72), expressly states that in the early days of Islam only seventeen men of the tribe of Quraysh, the aristocracy of Mecca, could write ; and he enumerates them by name, including amongst them 'Umar, 'All, « Uthman, Ibnu'l-Janah, Talha, Abu Sufyan, and his son Mu'awiya. Dhu'r-Rumma, who is regarded as the last of the old Bedouin poets (died between A.D. 719 and 735), had to conceal the fact that he was able to write,2 " because," said he, " it is regarded as a disgrace amongst us."
similar narratives from other sources given by von Kremer in vol. ii of his Culturgcschichte, p. 159.
1 This celebrated Persian grammarian died about A.D. 795. His work — " the oldest systematic representation of Arabian Grammar " — is called " The Book " (al-Kitf.b) par excellence.
9 Goldziher, Multam. Stud., vol. i, p. 112.
262
The Persians, on the other hand, even in early Sasanian times, included a knowledge of writing (daplrih} amongst the accomplishments proper to a prince,1 and many of them seem to have also possessed a good knowledge of Arabic before the days of Islam. ^Thus King Bahrain Gur (A.D. 420-438), who was educated by Mundhir amongst the Arabs of Hira, was instructed in the Persian, Arabic, and even Greek lan- guages and writings,2 and poems in Arabic ascribed to him are cited in <A wfi's Lubdbu U-Albab.l Khurra-Khusraw, the Persian satrap of Yemen about the time of the Prophet, " became fully Arabicised ; he recited Arabic poems, and educated himself in the Arabian fashion ; these Arab tendencies of his (' ta'arrubuhu* says our source) were the primary cause of his recall." 4
" There are also named," continues Goldziher, " amongst the doctors of the religion of Islam men of Persian origin whose ancestors did not through Islam first come in contact with Arab life, but who belonged to those Persian troops 5 who, under Sayf b. Dhu Yazan, became settled in Arabian lands. In Islam the Arabi- cisation of the non-Arabian elements and their participation in the learned world of the Muhammadan community underwent a rapid development, to which the history of the civilisation of mankind affords but few parallels. Towards the end of the first century [of the hijra] we find in Madi'na a grammarian named Bushkast, a name which sounds altogether Persian ; and we find this gram- marian, who busied himself with imparting instruction in his science,
1 NSldeke's Gesch. des Artachshir-i-Papakiin, p. 38, and n. 3 ad calc. " Noldeke's Gesch. d. Sasanidcn, pp. 86-88 ; Dfnawari, p. 53.
3 Of the two MSS. of this rare work known to exist, one is in the Berlin Library, while the other till lately belonged to Lord Crawford, who most generously allowed the writer to borrow it for a protracted period. In August, 1901, it was sold with his other Oriental MSS. to Mrs. Rylands of Manchester, and is now in the John Rylands Library.
4 Goldziher, op. cit., p. 113. In a footnote he adds, " Firuz ad-Daylami (died in the Caliphate of 'Uthman), who belonged to the Prophet's time, is also to be mentioned. Cf. Ibn Qutayba (ed. Wiistenfeld), p. 170."
* Goldziher, loc. cit., n. 2 ad calc. Concerning these Banu'l-Ahrdr (" Sons of the Nobles "), he refers to the Kih'ibu 'l-Agluini, xvi, p. 76 ; Ibn Hisham's Life of the Prophet, pp. 44-46 ; and Noldeke's Gesch. d. Sasaniden, p. 223.
LITERARY PRE-EMINENCE OF PERSIANS 263
playing a conspicuous part in the Klnrijite rebellion of Abu Hamza, in consequence of which participation he was put to death by Marwan's adherents, who succeeded in getting him into their hands. A whole series of the most eminent Muhammadans was descended from Persian prisoners of war. The grandsire of Abu Ishaq, whose Biography of the Prophet is one of the principal sources for the history of early Islam, was Yasar, a Persian prisoner of war ; so likewise was the father of Abu Miisa b. Nusayr, who thrust himself into prominence in Andalusia ; while the fathers and grandfathers of many other men distinguished in politics, learning, and literature were Persian and Turkish prisoners of war, who were affiliated [as mawdli, or clients] to some Arab tribe, and who, by their thoroughly Arabian nisba, almost cast into oblivion their foreign origin.1 But the retention of the remembrance of their foreign origin is not altogether excluded in the case of such Arab 'clients' [inawali], even though it be not exactly common. The Arab poet Abu Ishaq Ibrahim as-Suli (d. A.D. 857) retained in this his family name as-Suli the remembrance of his ancestor $ol-takin, a chief of Khurasan conquered and deprived of his throne by Yazid b. al-Mtihallab. Converted to Islam, he became one of the most devoted partisans of his conqueror. On the arrow which he shot against the troops of the Caliph he is said to have written the words, ' §ol summons you to follow the Book of God and the Sunna of his Prophet.' From this Turk the celebrated Arabic poet was descended."
The whole of this chapter in Goldziher's masterly work is profoundly instructive, and to it we refer the reader for fuller information on this matter. Amongst the most striking illustrations which he gives 3 of the preponderating influence of these foreign Maiv&li is a dialogue between the Umayyad Caliph 'Abdu'l-Malik and the famous theologian az-Zuhn, whence it appears that alike in Mecca, Yaman, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Khurasan, Kufa, and Basra foreign "clients"
1 Al-Baladhuri (p. 247), as Goldziher remarks, gives a list of such men, conspicuous amongst whom are the four sons of Shirin.
1 On the Arabic forms given to Persian proper names, see Goldziher, op. cit., p. 133, n. 2 ad calc. Thus Mdhdn becomes Maytnun; and Basfaruj, Abu §ufra, while in one case the name of the Persian Prophet Zoroaster is replaced by that of the Arabian Prophet Muhammad.
» Op. cit., vol. i, pp. 114, 115.
264 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
held the chief positions of authority in religion. And when the Caliph expressed his amazement at this state of things, the theologian replied, "So it is, O Commander. of the Faithful ! This is effected by the Command of God and His Religion ; who observes these attains to authority, who neglects them goes under."
The tendency of pious Muslims of the early period, as expressed in numerous traditions, was, as Goldziher also points out, to supply the strongest authority for disregarding racial prejudices in the domain of religion. Amongst these traditions are the following : —
"O man, forsooth God is one God, and the ancestor of all mankind is one, the religion is the same religion, the Arabic speech is neither father nor mother to any one of you, it is naught else but a speech. He who speaks Arabic is thereby an Arab."1
" He of [the people of] Pars who accepts Islam is [as good as] a Qurayshite."
"Did Faith reside in the Pleiades, yet would men of this people [the Persians] reach it " ; a tradition afterwards modified as follows : " Were knowledge suspended to the ends of heaven, yet would a section of the people in Pars reach it." *
That the full-blooded Arabs, in whom racial feeling greatly outweighed the religious sense, were very far from sharing the views embodied in these and similar traditions is abundantly shown by Goldziher, who cites many facts and passages which indicate their contempt for the foreign Mawali, and in parti- cular their disapproval of marriages between Arabs (especially Arab women) and non-Arabs. 3 A precisely similar pheno- menon is presented at the present day by the English in India, who are no more disposed to accord social equality to a
1 Goldziher regards this tradition, cited on the authority of Ibn 'Asakir (A.D. 1106-1169), as °f la*6 fabrication, but as embodying an idea un- doubtedly prevalent in earlier times.
3 Op. cit., vol. i, pp. 117-146.
3 That this already existed in pre-Islamic times is shown by the refusal of Nu'man, King of Hira, and his courtiers to give one of their daughters in marriage even to their powerful suzerain, the King of Persia.
THE SHU'tfBIYYA 265
Christian than to a non-Christian native, but rather the con- trary ; indeed, the comparison here is on the whole to the advantage of Islam, where at least the professedly pious steadily opposed this, dominant racial prejudice in a way very rare amongst our missionaries — a fact which, without doubt, accounts for their slender success in most parts of Asia.
With the fall of the Umayyads and the rise of the " Persian and Khurasinian " dynasty of the 'Abbasids * there came true, as has been already sufficiently indicated, part at least of Nasr b. Sayyar's warning to his master Marwan " the Ass " : —
Fa-firri 'an rihdliki, thumma qtili 'Ala'l-Isldmi wa'l-'Arabi 's-saldmu I
" Flee from thine abode, and bid farewell to Islam and the Arabs ! "
There now appears on the scene a definite party, the Shulubiyya^ or " partisans of the Gentiles," a who, beginning with the contention that all Muslims were equal, finished in some cases by declaring the Arabs inferior to many other races. " Already under the Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur," says Goldziher (op. cit.t p. 148), "we are witnesses of how the Arab waits vainly for entrance before the Caliph's Gate, while men of Khurasan freely go in and out through it, and mock the rude Arab." The poet Abu Tammam (t A.D. 845-46) was rebuked by the Wazir, because he had compared the Caliph to Hatim of the tribe of Tayy and other personages in whom the Arabs gloried, with the words, " Dost thou
1 Goldziher, op. cit., i. p. 148. CJ. p. 247 supra.
* To this party Goldziher devotes two chapters of his remarkable book {vol. i, pp. 147-216 and 272). The word shn'ub (pi. of sha'b) is used for the " nations " of the Gentiles ('A jam) as opposed to the " tribes " (qa bd'il) of the Arabs, in reference to Qur'an, xlix, 13 : "0 men I verily We have created you from a male and a female, and have made you nations and tribes, that ye might recognise that the noblest of you in God"s sight is he amongst you who most fears God : verily God is All-knowing ami Informed."
compare the Commander of the Faithful with these barbarous Arabs ? " «
Of these ShiSubiyya each one vaunted particularly the claims to distinction of his own nationality, whether Syrian, Naba- thaean, Egyptian, Greek, Spanish, or Persian ; but the last named were at once the most vehement and the most numerous. In Umayyad times Isma'il b. YAsar was, by order of the Caliph HishAm (A.D. 724—43), thrown into a tank of water because he had boasted his Persian descent in verses amongst which occur the following : — 2
" Princes were my ancestors, noble satraps, of high breeding, generous,
hospitable, Comparable to Khusraw or Shdpur, and to Hurmuzdn in renown
and consideration ; Lions of the war-hosts, when they rushed forth on the day oj
battle. They disheartened the Kings of the Turks and Greeks, they stalked
in heavy coats of mail As ravenous lions stalk forth. Then, if thou askest, wilt thou learn that we are descended from
a race which excels all others"
Such boasts on the part of the Persian Mawall were gall and wormwood to the Arab party, who would fain have enjoyed a monopoly of this sort of self-glorification ; and, when they could do no more, they replied by such verses as these : — 3
" God so ordained it that I knew you ere Fortune smiled upon you, when ye still sat in the Haymarket,
But not a year had elapsed ere I saiv you strutting about in silk and brocade and samite.
Then your women sat in the sun and moaned under the water- wheels in harmony with the turtle-doves :
Now they trail skirts of flowered silk from the looms of 'Iraq, and all kinds of silk stuffs from Dakn and Tdriin.
Goldziher, op. cit., p. 148. ' Von Kremer, Streifziige, p. 30
3 Strcifzfige, pp. 31-32 and 69-70.
PRIDE OF THE PERSIANS 267
They hare already forgotten how but a little while since they
broke Halani-stoncs in the quarries, and how they carried
bundles of moss in the skirts of their frocks. Bui when they had grown rich, then spoke they with impudent
falsehood, ' We are the noble ones, the sons of the Dihqdns.'
***** If one questions the meanest and commonest of them, he answers
full of arrogance, 'I am a son of [Bahrdnt] Chubin,' Adding thereto, ' Khusraw endowed me with goods and made me
his inheritor : who dares to set himself up against me f ' "
The Persian aristocracy of this period, as we learn from al-Mas'udi, * preserved their genealogies with the same care as did the Arabs, so that these boasts which so offended the Arabs may in many cases have been well founded. Even in the genealogies of the Arabs they were better instructed than the Arabs themselves, as we see in the anecdote cited by Gold- ziher (op. cit.y p. 190), when a Qurayshite is obliged to appeal to a Persian for information about his own ancestors. The Persians on their side were quick to seize and turn into ridicule the weak points of the Arabs, and even, as Goldziher remarks,2 to belittle those virtues (such as liberality) whereon they especially prided themselves ; so that, for example, one of al-Ma'mun's three Persian librarians named Sahl b. Harun, a fanatical Shu'ubi, was pleased to write a number of treatises extolling avarice.3 The blind Persian panegyrist of the Caliph al-Mahdi, Bashshar b. Burd,4 a well-known freethinker, who was ultimately put to death for his heterodoxy in A.D. 783-84, ventured so far as to say : —
" The Earth is dark and the Fire resplendent, and the Fire has bun adored since it became Fire."
1 Muruju 'dh. Dhahab (ed. B. de Meynard), ii, 241, cited by Goldziher, op. cit., p. 161. " Loc. cit.
3 A work of the same kind, the Kitdbu'l-Bukhald, or " Book of Misers,' composed by the celebrated al-Jahidh (another $hu'ubf : cf. Goldziher, op. cit., p. 157), has been recently published at Leyden by Dr. Van Vloten.
4 Seede Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan, vol. i, pp. 254-257 ; Brockel- mann's Gesch. d. Arab Lit., vol. i, pp. 73, 74 ; and von Kremer's Strcifzftge, pp. 34 et seqq.
268 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
For our knowledge of the Shu'ubi controversy and the literature which it evoked, of which echoes only are pre- served in the works of al-jahidji (f A.D. 869) and Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi (t A.D. 940), we are chiefly indebted to Goldziher's excellent Muhammedanische Studien, already so freely cited in this chapter/ Amongst the defenders of the Persian pretensions he enumerates Ishaq b. Hassan al-Khurrami (\ A.D. 815-16), a native of Sughd, who, in one of his verses, boasts x that his father is Sasan, and Kisra, son of Hurmuz, and the Khaqan his cousins ; Abu 'Uthman Sa'id b. Humayd b. Bakhtagan (t A.D. 854-5), who composed books on the superiority of the Persians over the Arabs;2 Abu Sa'id ar-Rustami (tenth century of our era), " in whom," says Goldziher, " the national cry of the Persians against the Arabs sounds its last notes ; " and that great scientist, Abu Rayhan al-Birum (t A.D. 1048). Amongst the most notable of their oppo- nents, the champions of Arab superiority, are enumerated the historians Ibn Qutayba (t A.D. 883 or 889) and al-Baladhuri (t A.D. 892), 3 both of whom were of Persian origin,4 although they wrote exclusively in Arabic. To them may be added a Persian-writing Persian of a later epoch, Nasir-i-Khusraw, the poet, traveller, and Isma'iH propagandist (t circ. A.D. 1074), who in his Diwan (lith. ed. of Tabriz, A.M. 1280, p. 150),
says : —
Bi-din kard fakhr dn-ki ia n'tz-i-hashr Bidu muftakhir shud 'Arab bar 'Ajam Khasis-ast u bi qadr bi-din, agar Faridun-sh khdl-ast, u Jamshid 'am.
" 'Twas in Religion that he gloried by whom till the Day of
Judgement
The Arabs excel the Persians in glory. He who lacks religion is ignoble and mean, Though Feridun be his maternal, and Jamshid his paternal
uncle."
* Goldziher, op. cit., p. 163. • Fihrist, p. 123
3 Goldziher, op. cit., p. 166.
« Brockelmann. Gcsch. d. Arab. Lit., vol. i, pp. 120 and 141.
THE SHU'tfBIYYA °fy**&^
The Sku'ubiyya controversy extended itself, as also shows, to the regions of Genealogy and Philology, lay the special pride of the Arabs, who valued nothing more highly than nobility of descent and purity of speech. Even into these fields the " Iranophiles " carried their attacks, using their knowledge in the first to rake up all the scandals con- nected with the different Arab tribes and the pedigrees of their favourite heroes and warriors — scandals which were embodied in a whole series of incriminating poems called Mathalib — and in the second to vindicate the superiority of other languages, notably the Persian and the Greek, over Arabic. To one of the most accomplished of these " Irano- phile" scholars, Abu 'Ubayda Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna (t circ. A.D. 824), Goldziher devotes a long notice.1
This most learned philologist, notorious as a Shu'ubf, was always eager to point out how much, even of what they most prized, and esteemed most national and original, the Arabs really owed to other nations ; how much, for example, their poetry and rhetoric owed to Persian models, how many of their stories were drawn from Persian sources, and the like. The superior attractions of the Persian legends had, indeed, as we learn from Ibn Hisham (ed. Wiistenfeld, pp. 235-6), already caused the greatest vexation to the Prophet, who found his audiences melt away when an-Nadr b. al-Harith al-'Abdari appeared on the scene to tell them tales of Rustam and Isfandiyar and the ancient kings of Persia.
As regards Philology proper, Goldziher specially mentions as champions of the Arab cause the great commentator az-Zamakhshari (also a Persian: t A.D. 1143-4), who in his preface thanks God for his learning in, and enthusiasm for, the Arabic language, and his exemption from Shu'iibi tendencies ; Ibn Durayd (t A.D. 933) ; and Abu'l-Husayn b. Faris (early eleventh century). Amongst their most notable opponents he reckons Hamza of Isfahan, who "was enthusiastic for the * Goldziher, op. cit., pp. 195-206,
2;o THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
Persians," T and who shows his enthusiasm, amongst other ways, by finding Persian etymologies (rarely satisfactory) for names generally regarded as purely Arabic. Thus he ex- plained the name of the town of Basra as " Bas rah " (" Far Road," or " Many Roads ") ; an etymology which reminds us of the statement in that late and greatly overestimated Persian work the Dabistan (see pp. 54-55 supra\ that the original name of Mecca was " Mah-gahJ' which in Persian signifies " the Place of the Moon." Such childish ety- mologies are, unfortunately, only too popular with Persian writers down to the present day.2
The way in which the different sciences, especially History, arose amongst the Muslims in connection with the study of the Our'dn, and grouped themselves, as it were, round a theological kernel, is admirably sketched by that great Arabist, Professor de Goeje, in the article on Tabari and Early Arab Historians which he contributed to vol. xxiii (1888) of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The philological sciences naturally come first. With the influx of foreign converts to Islam an urgent need arose for grammars and dictionaries of the Arabic language in which the Word of God had been revealed. To elucidate the meanings of rare and obscure words occurring therein, it was necessary to collect as many as possible of the old poems, which constituted the inexhaustible treasury of the Arabic tongue. To understand these poems a knowledge of the Ansab^ or genealogies of the Arabs, and of their Battles or " Days " (Ayyam] and their history (Akhbar} generally was requisite. To supplement the rules laid down in the Qur'an for the conduct of life, it was
1 Al-Biruni's Chronologv, ed. Sachau, p. 52, cited by Goldziher, op. cit., i, 209. The expression is " ta'assaba li'l-Furs."
3 An English resident in Persia named Glover was metamorphosed into Gtil-dvar ("Bringer of Roses"); less fortunate was a compatriot named Reid, a missionary, whose name ultimately necessitated a retreat from this field of activity.
EVOLUTION OF MUSLIM SCIENCES 271
necessary to find out, by questioning his "Companions" (Ashdb\ or those who had associated with them and " followed " them (Tawabi1, tubbfr or t&bi'-un), what the Prophet had said and how he had acted under different cir- cumstances ; whence arose the science of Tradition (Hadith). To test the validity of these traditions it was necessary to know not merely the content (main) of each, but also its hnady i.e., the chain of persons through whom it had been handed down ere it was finally reduced to writing ; and to test this isndd a knowledge of the dates, characters, and cir- cumstances of these persons was requisite, which again led in another way to the study of Biography and Chronology. Nor did the history of the Arabs alone suffice ; it was necessary to know something of the history of their neighbours, especially the Persians, Greeks, Himyarites, ./Ethiopians, &c., in order to grasp the significance of many allusions in the Qur'dn and in the old poems. A knowledge of Geography was essential for the same purpose, and also for more practical reasons connected with the rapid expansion of the Muhammadan Empire.
During the first century after the flight hardly any books were written ; all this knowledge continued to be handed down orally, and the Qur'an remained almost the only prose work (and it is chiefly written in rhymed prose) in Arabic. Such as desired to study Arabic philology, poetry, and legend had to go into the Desert amongst the Bedouin tribes to pursue their researches ; such as sought a knowledge of Tradition and the religious sciences had to seek it at Madina. Knowledge could only be obtained by travelling, and this travelling " in search of knowledge " (fl talab'i l-^ilni], rendered necessary at first by the circumstances of the case, gradually became a fashion, and finally almost a craze, favoured and justified by such traditions as: "Whosoever goeth forth to seek for learning is in the Way of God until he returns home ; the Angels blithely spread their wings over him, and
272 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
all creatures pray for him, even the fish in the water." * Makhul (t A.D. 730), originally a slave in Egypt, would not on receiving his freedom leave that country "till he had gathered together all the learning which was to be found there ; " and, having accomplished this, he journeyed through Hijdz, 'Iraq, and Syria seeking for an authentic tradition as to the division of spoils taken in battle, which he at last obtained from an old man named Ziyad b. Jdriya at-Tamimi, who had it on the authority of Habib b. Maslama al-Fihri.2 Here we have an actual application of the principle enunciated in the following words ascribed to Abu'd-Darda : " If the explanation of a passage in the Book of God presented difficulties to me, and if I heard of a man in Birku'l-Jumad " (a most inaccessible spot in South Arabia, proverbially spoken of as equivalent to the ends of the earth) " who would explain it to me, I would not grudge the journey thither." 3
The two oldest Arabic prose works of importance (except the Qur'an) which have come down to us are Ibn Ishaq's (t A.D. 767) Biography of the Prophet in the recension of Ibn Hisham (t A.D. 834)^ and a work on genealogy by Ibnu'l- Kalbf (t A.D. 763-4), of which manuscripts exist in the libraries of the British Museum and the Escorial.S Manu- script notes, however, were constantly made at an earlier date, during the first century of the Flight, by such men as Abu Hurayra, 'Abdu'llah b. 'Amr b. al-'Asi, az-Zuhn6 (t A.D. 742) and Hasan of Basra,7 who in some cases ordered that these notes should be burned at their death, because they were mere aids to memory, "and what they knew these scholars had
1 Goldziher, op cit., vol. ii, p. 177 ; and on these journeys // talabil-ilm generally, pp. 32-33 and 175 et seqq.
' Idem, p. 33. 3 Idem, pp. 176-177.
4 Edited by Wiistenfeld (1858-60), and translated into German by Weil (1864).
s These and the following particulars are chiefly drawn from de Goeje's excellent article in the Encyclopedia Britannica to which I have already referred.
6 Goldziher, op. cit., pp. 195-196. ' De Goeje, loc. cit.
EARLIEST ARABIC PROSE 273
handed on by word of mouth." Indeed, as Goldziher has shown,1 there existed till well into the second century after the Flight a strong feeling against the writing down of traditions, so that 'Abdu'r-Rahmdn b. Harmala al-Aslami (t A.D. 762) had to obtain a special permission from his teacher Sa'id b. al-Musayyib to reduce his teachings to writing, on the pretext that his memory was not strong enough to retain them without such aids. The grounds on which this objection rested were chiefly two : a fear lest the books wherein these holy sayings of the Prophet were recorded might not be treated with enough respect ; and a fear lest, on the other hand, they might, as had happened in other religions, become invested, to the prejudice of the Book of God, with an undue authority. Against this objection stood the truer view embodied in such sayings as : " Knowledge not put on paper is lost ; " " What is committed to memory passes away, but what is written remains ; " " The best teacher of traditions is the written record;" and the Im£m Ahmad b. Hanbal's reputed aphorisms, " Publish traditions only after written texts," and " the book is the most faithful recorder." 2 Naturally such objections did not exist in the case of profane literature, and, in the short section which he devotes to the prose-literature of the Umayyad period, Carl Brockelmann 3 mentions the following early works and writers : the Southern Arabians Wahb b. Munabbih (of Persian origin 4) and 'Abid b. Shariya, both of San'a, of whom the former died at an advanced age in A.D. 728, and the latter in the reign of 'Abdu'l-Malik (A.D. 685-705) ; Abu Mikhnaf Lut b. Yahyd al-Azdi, celebrated for his historical romances (d. circ. A.D. 750) ; the already-mentioned az-Zuhn (d. A.D. 742) ; and his pupil Muhammad b. 'Abdu'r-Rahmdn al-'Amiri (t A.D. 737), author of an older Muwatta* than the well-
1 Op. cit., ii, pp. 196, et seqq. * Ibid., p. 199.
3 Gesch. d. Arab. Lift., i, pp. 64-67.
4 See Wiistenfeld's Geschichtschreiber der Araber, p. 4, No. 16.
19
274 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
known law-book of the same name compiled by the Imam Malik b. Anas (d. 795). Amongst the oldest Arabic piose works of which copies actually exist are the Kitab-Sz-Zuhd (on Asceticism) of Asad b. Musa b. Ibrahim (t A.D. 749) ; the Kit Abu l~y aw ami1 (on Oneiromancy) of Muhammad b. Shirin (see p. 263, n. I supra] ; and the Kitdbu'l-hhara bi-'iilmil-('ibara of Muhammad b. 'All b. 'Umar as-Sdlimi. Last, but not least, is the Umayyad prince Khalid b. Yazid (t A.D. 704), who studied Alchemy with a monk named Marianus, composed three treatises on Occult Science, and had for his pupil the celebrated occultist Jdbir b. Hayydn (circ. A.D. 776).
Brockelmann in his admirable Geschichte der Arabhcken Litieratur (Weimar, 1897- ) divides the earlier portion ot his subject into the following periods : —
I. The purely Arabian literature (almost entirely consisting of poems composed by pagan, and a few Jewish and Christian, poets), from the earliest times till the time of the Prophet.
II. The literature (also purely Arabian, and, with the exception of the Qur'An, poetical) of the Prophet and his time.
III. The literature (also purely Arabian) of the Umayyad period (A.D. 661-750).
IV. The classical period (A.D. 750-1000) of Muhammadan literature, composed in the Arabic language, but no longer exclusively, or even mainly, by Arabs.
V. The post-classical period (A.D. 1000-1258) of the same, down to the Mongol invasion, sack of Baghdad, and ex- tinction of the 'Abbdsid dynasty.
Of these periods the first three but slightly concern us, and all that is needful for our purpose has been already said. The periods subsequent to the Mongol invasion lie also beyond the scope of this work, since even before this momentous event the national life of Persia had been definitely detached from that of Arabia and Western Asia, and the Persian language had become the main vehicle of Persian thought.
CHIEF WRITERS OF THIS PERIOD 275
The fourth and fifth periods, on the other hand, concern us closely ; for during the first (A.D. 750-1000) the Persian, tongue had scarcely re-emerged, as a literary language, from the eclipse which it suffered at the Arab Conquest ; and during the second, although it was once more widely and successfully cultivated for all literary purposes, there was in Persia a large co-existent Arabic literature produced by Persians. The Arabic literature produced in Persia after the Mongol Invasion was far more restricted in scope, and was mainly confined to the domains of Theology, Philosophy, and Jurisprudence.
From the Persian point of view, then, whence we here regard the matter, it is the Arabic literature of 'Abbdsid times with which our concern chiefly lies, and, in the present chapter, those writers who belong to what we have defined as " the Golden Age" (A.D. 749-847). A list of the most important of these, arranged in order of the dates of their decease, here follows.
(1) Ibnu'l-Mitqaffa' (f A.D. 757), the converted Magian, who, not- withstanding the fact that he was born a Persian and a Zoroastrian, is counted by Ibn Muqla (f A.D. 939) and Ibn Khaldiin the Moor (f A.D. 1405-6) amongst the past-masters of the Arabic tongue. He was also, as has been already remarked, an accomplished Pahlawi scholar, and translated from this language many works into Arabic. Of these, his Arabic version of Kalila and Dimna, still a classic in all Arabic-speaking countries, alone survives in its entirety, his much more important translation of the Pahlawi " Book of Kings " (Khudhdy-nama\ being only known to us by citations in later histories.
(2) Ibn 'Uqba (f A.D. 758), the oldest biographer of the Prophet, whose work, as it would seem, is unfortunately entirely lost.
(3) Muhammad b. as-Sd'ib al-Kalbi (f A.D. 763), who, together with iiis son Hisham b. al-Kalbi (\ A.D. 820), was well versed in the history
f the ancient Arabs.
(4) 'Isd b. 'Umar ath-Thaqafi (\ A.D. 766), one of the founders of rabic grammar, the teacher of both Khalil b. Ahmad (the alleged ventor of the Science of Prosody in Arabic) and the great
ibawayhi, the Persian.
2/6 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
(5) Ibn Isltdq (\ A.D. 767), the biographer of the Prophet, whose 1 work (though possibly, as de Goeje thinks, still extant in its original
form in the Kyiiprulti Library at Constantinople) is known to us only in the recension of Ibn Hisham.
(6) Abu Hanifa an-Nu'mdn (f A.D. 767), one of the four orthodox "Imams" of the Sunnis, the founder of the Hanafi school, of Persian origin, and in strong sympathy with the descendants of 'Ali.
(7) Hammdd b. Sdbur (Shdpur) ar-Rdwiya (\ A.D. 772-775), of Persian (Daylamite) origin, the collector and editor of the seven ancient Arabic poems known as the Mu'allaqdt.
(8) Jdbir b. Hayydn, the occultist (circ. A.D. 776 ; see p. 274 supra}.
(9) Muhammad b. 'Abdu'lldh al-Azdi (circ. A.D. 777), who wrote a history of the Conquest of Syria.
(10) Abu Duldma (f A.D, 777), a negro, "more jester and Court- fool than poet," who enjoyed the favour of the Caliphs al-Mansiir and al-Mahdi.
(n) Bashshdr b. Burd (f A.D. 783), the blind Persian sceptic and poet, to whom reference has already been made.
(12) Al-Mufaddal ad-Dabbi (f A.D. 786), tutor to the Caliph al- Mahdi during his youth, who made a collection of old Arabic poems not less important, though less celebrated, than the Mu'allaqdt.
(13) As-Sayyidu'l-Himyari ("the Himyarite Sayyid," f A.D. 789), a zealous Shi'ite, " whose poems " (mostly in praise of the Prophet and his family) "are distinguished," says Brockelmann (p. 83), "like those of Abu'l-' Atahiya and Bashshar, by simplicity of language."
(14) Khalil b. Ahmad (\ A.D. 791), the grammarian and prosodist mentioned under (4) supra.
(15) Sibaivayhi (f A.D. 793), the Persian grammarian, also mentioned under (4) supra.
(16) Abu Yusuf Ya'qi'ib al-Ansdri (\ A.D. 795.^ jurisconsult and pupil of Abu Hanifa.
(17) Malik b. Anas (\ A.D. 795), the second of the four orthodox " Imams," the Founder of the Malikite school.
(18) Marwdn b, Abi Hafsa (f A.D. 797), poet, a Jew of Khurasan.
(19) Muslim b. al-Walid (f A.D. 803), court-poet of Harunu'r-Rashid and protege of the Barmecides and Fadl b. Sahl.
(20) Muhammad b. al-Hasan ash-Shaybdni (\ A.D. 804), the Hanafi jurisconsult, and for a while Qadi of Raqqa in the reign of Harunu'r- Rashid.
(21) 'Alt b. Hamza al-Kisd'i (\ A.D. 805), the grammarian, a Persian by birth, entrusted by Harunu'r-Rashid with the education of his
i two sons al-Amin and al-Ma'mun.
CHIEF WRITERS OF THIS PERIOD 277
(22) Al-' Abbas b. al-Ahnaf (f A.D. 806), another half-Persian poet of the Court of Harunu'r-Rashid, chiefly celebrated for his love- poems.
(23) Abu Nuwds (f A.D. 806-813), also half Persian by birth, one of the most brilliant and shameless poets of Harunu'r-Rashid's Court. His discreditable adventures, ready resource, and unfailing wit are familiar to all readers of the Arabian Nights.
(24) Ibn Zabala (\ A.D. 814), a pupil of Malik b. Anas, who wrote a History of Madina.
(25) Yahyd b. Biiriq (who flourished about A.D. 815), one of the translators of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers into Arabic.
(26) Hishdm b. al-Kalbi (f A.D. 819-820), the historian ; see (3) supra.
(27) Ash-Shdfi'i (\ A.D. 820), the third of the four orthodox " Imams " of the Sunnis, founder of the Shafi'ite school.
(28) Qulrub (f 4.D. 821), grammarian and philologist, pupil of Sibawayhi and ath-Thaqafi.
(29) Al-Farrd (\ A.D. 822), grammarian, pupil of al-Kisa'i, and, like him, of Persian origin.
(30) Al-Waqidi (f A.D. 823), the great historian of the Muslim conquests, who was liberally patronised by Yahya the Barmecide, and, on his death, left behind him 600 great boxes of books and manuscript notes, each one of which required two men to carry it.
(31) Abu 'Ubayda Ma'mar b. al-Muthannd (f A.D. 825), a philologist of strong Shu'iibi tendencies and of Jewish-Persian origin, the rival of al-Asma'i and the bitter satirist of the Arab tribes. See p. 269 supra.
(32) Abu' l-'Afdhiya (| A.D. 828), one of the most notable poets of this epoch, who, alike in his earnestness, his religious pessimism, and his extreme simplicity of speech, stands in the sharpest contrast to his contemporary the dissolute, immoral, and time-serving Abu Nuwas.
(33) Al-'Akawu'ak (f A.D. 828), a poet and panegyrist of Persian extraction.
(34) Ibn Qutayba (f A.D. 828), a historian of the first rank, also a Persian. Of the twelve works composed by him which Brockelmann enumerates (i, pp. 120-123) the best known are his Ktldbu'l-Ma'drif fed. Wiistenfeld, 1850), his Adabul-Kdtib, or Secretary's Manual (Cairo, A.H. 1300), and his 'Uyunu'l-Akhbdr, now being published by Brockelmann at Berlin.
(35) Al-Asma'i (f A.D. 831), the grammarian and philologist, a prominent member of that circle of learned men wherewith Harunu'r-Rashid surrounded himself.
(36) Ibn Hishdm (f A.D. 834), the editor of Ibn Ishaq's Biography of the Prophet ; see (5) supra.
2/8 THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
(37) Al-Akhfash "the intermediate" (al-Awsaf), or "the second" (f A.D. 835, or earlier), grammarian and philologist, a pupil of Sibawayhi, and probably, like his master, of Persian extraction.
(38) Qus(d b. Liiqd, a Christian of Ba'labakk (Baalbek), a notable translator and compiler of medical, astronomical, and mathematical works, flourished about this time. He was still famous in Persia as an authority on these subjects in the middle of the eleventh century of our era, when Nasir-i-Khusraw wrote : —
Har kasi chizi hami-gt'iyad zi lira ra'y-i-khwish, Td gumdn dyad-t Kit, Qusldy bin Liiqd-sti.
" Every one, in his benighted ignorance, propounds some theory, That thou may'st suppose him to be a Qusta b. Luqa."
(39) Al-Madaini (\ A.D. 840-845), a prolific writer on history, of whose works, unfortunately, only the titles (of which in are enumerated in the Fihrist) are preserved to us.
(40) Al-Kindi (f A.D. 841), the eminent Arabian philosopher and physician.
(41) Ibnn'l-A'rdbi (\ A.D. 844), a well-known grammarian of Indian origin, the step-son and pupil of al-Mufaddal (see No. 12 supra).
(42) Abu Abdi'lldh Muhammad b. Salldm al-Jumahi (f A.D. 845), the author of a Biography of Poets (Tabaqdtush-Shii'ara), which is unfortunately lost, and is only known to us by citations.
(43) Ibn Sa'd (f A.D. 845), secretary to the celebrated al-Wdqidi (see No. 30 supra), author of the great Kitdbu't-Tabaqdti'l-Kabir, which is to be published in the near future at Leyden.
(44) Abu Tammdm (f A.D. 846), panegyrist of the Caliph al- Mu'tasim and later of 'Abdu'llah b. Tahir, the governor of Khurasan, but better known as the author of the great Anthology of ancient Arabic poetry called the Hamdsa, " wherein," says his commentator at-Tabrizi, " he showed himself a better poet than in his own verses."
(45) Diku'l-Jinn (\ A.D. 849), the Syrian Shu'ubi and Shi'ite poet.
Other names might be added, but for our present purpose these are sufficient, since they serve to indicate how large a proportion (thirteen out of forty-four) of the most celebrated contributors to " classical " Arabic literature were of Persian extraction. For fuller particulars of their works and cha- racteristics the reader must refer to von Kremer, Brockelmann, and other writers on the Litteraturgeschichte and Culturgeschichte of the Arabs,
Wfi0
CHAPTER VIII
THE DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM.
Two of the most important early sects of Islam, the republican Kharijites and the fegitimist Shi'ites, have been already discussed at some length ; while the extremists (Ghulat) of the latter body, with their wild doctrines of Incarnation (//«/w/), " Return " (Rij'at) and Metempsychosis (Tandsukh\ will form the subject of the following chapter (pp. 308 et seqq.). These sects may be regarded, primarily at least, as to a large extent political in their character, and as representing respectively the democratic Arabian and the monarchic Persian tendencies as applied to matters of religion. To them must be added a third sect of mainly political character, the Murjiya, and a fourth of more purely theological or speculative nature, the Qadariyya or Mu^tazila. These four sects are regarded by von Kremer,1 who follows Ibn Hazm,2 as the four primary divisions (Hauptsekten) of the Muhammadans;3 and, according
1 Gcsch. d. lierrschendcn Idcen d. Islains, pp. 15 et scqq.
» Ibid., pp. 10 and 124. Ibn Hazm, a Spanish Arab of Cordova, died about A.D. 1054, and is the author of the oldest extant work on the Sects of Islam. MSS. of this work (which has never been printed) are very rare. See Flugel's Vicuna Catalogue, vol. ii, pp. 197-199, and, for Ibn Hazm's biography, de Slane's transl. of Ibn Khallikdn, vol. ii, pp. 267-272.
3 Shahristani, who also reckons four, substitutes the Sifatiyya for the Miirjiyu, while al-Iji (A.U. 1355) enumerates seven principal heterodox sects. See Dr. H. Stciner's Alu'taziliten, pp. 2-3,
"79
280 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
to his view,1 the two last arose at the Umayyad capital, Damascus, partly under Christian influences, during the first half of the eighth century of our era (A.D. 718-747), while the two first, as we have already seen, were already in existence in the latter part of the seventh century.
The Murjiya (so called from the root arja'ay "he postponed,"
because they postpone or defer judgment against sinful Muslims
till the Day of Resurrection,2 and refuse to assert
The Murjiya. ...
that any true believer, no matter what sins he may have committed, is certainly damned) were essentially that body of Muslims who, unlike the Shi'ites and Khdrijites, acquiesced in the Umayyad rule. In doctrine they otherwise agreed in the main with the orthodox party, though, as von Kremer thinks, they greatly softened and mitigated its more terrible features, holding " that no believing Muslim would remain eternally in hell," 3 and, in general, setting faith above works. Their views were so evidently adapted to the environ- ment of the Umayyad Court, with which no sincere Shi'ite or Kharijite could have established any modus vivendiy though Christians and other non-Muslims stood in high favour there, and held important offices,4 that it is hard to regard them otherwise than as time-servers of the Vicar of Bray type. With the fall of that ungodly dynasty their raison d'etre ended, and they ceased to exist as an independent party, though from their ranks arose the celebrated Abu Hanifa, the founder ot one of the four orthodox schools of the Sunnis which endure to the present day.S
" It is much to be regretted," says von Kremer,6 " that we have so little accurate information about this sect, but they shared the fate of that whole epoch. The Arabic historical sources of the
1 Culturgesch. Streifziige, pp. 1-9.
a See Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Bk. i, p. 1033.
3 Gesch. d. Herrsch. Idcen, p. 25.
4 Slrcifzitge p. 2. The Court-poet al-Akhtal was a Christian.
5 Ibid., p. 6, and cf. Herrsch. Idccn, p. 26. 6 Ibid., p. 3.
THE MWTAZILA 281
Uraayyad period perished altogether, and the oldest writings preserved to us arose in ' Abbasid times. We are therefore driven back for information as to the Murjiya to the scattered notices which we find in later Arabic writers."
Of much greater interest and importance was the sect of
the ^adariyya (" Partisans of Free Will ") or Mu'tazila
(" Seceders,") whose leading; idea, to quote Dr.
The Mu'tazila. \ ' . '
Sterner,1 " is best characterised as the enduring protest of sound human understanding against the tyrannical demands which the orthodox teaching imposed upon it." They called themselves Ahlul-lAdl w a t-Tawhid^ or " Partisans of the Divine Justice and Divine Unity " ; of the Divine Justice, because the orthodox doctrine of Predestination, which represented God as punishing man for sins forced upon him, as it were, by a Fate which he had no power to resist, made God in effect a pitiless Tyrant ; of the Divine Unity, because, said they, the orthodox party, who make the Qur'an coeternal and coexistent with God, and who regard the Divine Attributes as separate or separable from the Divine Essence, are really Polytheists or Mushrikun (associaters of other gods with the One God). The account generally given of their origin and name is that Wasil b. 4Ata al-Ghazzal, a Persian
disciple of the celebrated theologian Hasan of ™dSwasfibB'Ataa Basra> differed from his master as to the question
whether a believer, after he had committed a grievous sin, still deserved to be called by that appellation. Wasil held that such an one could neither be called a believer nor an unbeliever, but must be regarded as occupying a middle position between the two, and withdrew to a different part of the mosque to expound this view to those of his fellow-students who followed him ; whereupon Hasan of Basra observed to those who stood round him, " Ptazala lan-n& " (" He hath seceded from us "), in consequence of which saying Wasil's party were called by their opponents " al- Mu'tazila " (" the 1 Mu'tasiliten, p. 4.
282 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
Separatists " or " Seceders.") r This, the generally received account of the origin of the sect, would make 'Iraq — " cette antique Babylonie, ou la race semitique et la race perse se rencontraient et se melangeaient, et qui devint bientot le centre de la science, puis, peu de temps apres, sous les 'Abbasides, le siege du gouvernement " 2 — its birthplace and cradle ; but von Kremer,3 as we have seen, thinks that their doctrines were developed at Damascus under the influence of Byzantine theologians, notably of John of Damascus and his disciple Theodore Abucara. The other and more definite name — £>adariyya 4 — by which they were known referred to tiieir doctrine of man's free-will ; and the spurious tradition " al-^adariyya tu Majiisu hadhihil-Ummati" "the Partisans of Free-will are the Magians of this Church "
The Qadarivya .
compared to (because, as oteincr observes, to explain the
Magiuns. v .
existence or JLvil they also set up a second Principle, the Will of Man, against the Will of God), was freely applied to them by their adversaries. Even in much later times, at the beginning of the thirteenth century of our era, we find the Persian Sufi poet Mahmud Shabistari referring to this tradition in that well-known manual for mystagogues the Guhhan-i-Rdz S as follows : —
Hat an kas-rd ki madh-hab ghayr-i-Jabr-ast, Nabi farmi'id kit mdnind-i- gabr-ast.
Every man whose faith is other than predestinarian I?, according to the Prophet, even as a guebre."
Von Kremer, as already noticed, considers that the Doctrine of Free-will was already taught in Damascus at the end of the seventh century of our era by Ma'bad al-Juhani (died in A.D. 699), who had imbibed the doctrine from a Persian named Sinbuya, and who was put to death by the Umayyad
1 See Steiner's Mu'taziliten, pp. 24-26, and Dozy's Hist, de I'Jslamismc, p. 204. 2 Dozy, op. cit., p. 201. 3 Strei/zii^e, pp. 7-9.
4 On the quite opposite senses in which the word qadar is used, see Steincr, op. cit., pp. 26-28. s Ed. Whinfield, 1. 538, pp. 32 and 54.
THE DOCTRINE OF FREE WILL 283
Caliph 'Abdu'l-Malik, or, according to other narratives, by Hajjaj b. Yusuf. 'Awfi, the Persian thirteenth-century writer, in the account of the Umayyad Caliphs contained in blc. v of his immense collection of stories, the JawdmPtfl-Hikdydt (which, unfortunately, exists only in rare manuscripts), says that Ghaylan the Qadari was put to death in Damascus by Hisham b. 'Abdu'l-Malik (A.D. 724-743) for teaching the doctrine of Free-will ; and even describes how he was confuted by the Caliph in the presence of the doctors of Syria. Yazid II (A.D. 720—724), on the other hand, is said to have himself embraced the views of the Qadariyya, and, if 'Awfi may be believed, he also showed a marked partiality for the House of 'Ali. Shi'ite and Qadari tenets, indeed, often went together, and the Shi'ite doctrine current in Persia at the present day is in many respects Mu'tazilite, while Hasan al-Ash'ari, the great opponent of the Mu'tazilites, is by the Shi'ites held in horror. Muhammad Darabi,1 the author of an Apology for the poet Hafidh,2 mentions as one of the three grounds whereon objection was commonly made to his verses that some of them appeared to indicate an inclination to the doctrines of al-Ash(ari, " which," he adds, " the doctors of the Imamiyya" (or Shf'ites of the Sect of the Twelve) " regard as false ; " and he cites as an example of these Calvinistic leanings the verse : —
Dar kuy-i-nik-ndmi mdrd guzar na-dddand : Gar tu na-mi pasandi, taghyir kun qadd-rd !
" They suffered us not to enter the Street of Good Repute : If thou likest it not, then change Destiny ! "
It was, however, under the earlier 'Abbasid Caliphs, notably in the reign of the Caliph al-Ma'mun (A.D. 813-833) and his
1 P. 5 of an excellent little pamphlet entitled Latifa-i-GJtaybiyya, lithographed in Tihran in A.H. 1304 (A.D. 1887), to which my attention was directed by my friend Mr. Sidney Churchill, one of the finest Persian scholars I have ever met.
* Diwdn of Hafujh, ed. Rosenzweig-Schwannau, vol. i, p. 16.
284 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
son al-Wathiq (A.D. 842-847), that the Mu'tazilite school was most powerful. It had taken possession of these Caliphs and their Courts, had enriched its stores of argument and methods of dialectic by the study of Greek Philosophy, and, supported thus by its internal strength and the external favour of the governing classes, bade fair altogether to extinguish the orthodox party, towards whom, in spite of its generally liberal and tolerant attitude, it showed itself irreconcilably hostile. The orthodox doctrine that the Our'an was un- create they held in particular detestation. In the year A.H. 211 (A.D. 826 : Tabari iii, p. 1099) al-Ma'mun, having nearly provoked a civil war by his Shi'ite proclivities, and especially by his nomination of the Eighth Imam of the Shi'ites, 'All ar-Rida, as his successor to the throne (a difficulty whence, with singular inconsistency, he extricated himself by secretly poisoning the Imam and instigating the assassination of the too zealous minister, Fadl b. Sahl, who had counselled this step), proclaimed the doctrine that the Qur'an was created, not uncreate, as an indisputable truth ; and seven years later, in the last year of his Caliphate, he compelled seven eminent men of learning (amongst whom was Ibn Sa'd, the secretary of the great historian al-Waqidi) to declare their adhesion to this doctrine, after which he wrote a long letter to Ishaq b. Ibrahim bidding him question such theologians as he suspected of holding the prohibited belief, and punish such as refused to declare the Qur'an to be created. Some two dozen eminent and highly esteemed Muslims, the most notable of whom was Ahmad b. Hanbal, the founder of one of the four orthodox schools of the Sunnites, were haled before this tribunal, and, by threats and imprisonment, most of them were induced to subscribe to the Caliph's declaration that the Qur'dn was created, save Ahmad b. Hanbal, who stood firm, and, but for the sudden death of al-Ma'mun, which happened shortly afterwards, would have been in grave peril of his life.1 Al-
1 See Tabari, iii, pp. 1112-1131, where this transaction is very fully reported.
THE MU'TAZILA DOMINANT 285
Withiq followed his father's example, and thereby provoked in the year A.H. 231 (A.D. 845-6) a dangerous conspiracy headed by Ahmad b. Nasr al-Khuza'i, which was, however, revealed by the indiscretion of several of the conspirators who had been indulging to an unwise extent in nabldh, or date- wine.1 Notwithstanding this, in the exchange of prisoners effected in the same year2 al-Wdthiq caused each released Muslim captive to be questioned as to his belief on this burning question, and such as declared their belief that the Qur'an was uncreate he refused to receive (deeming them, as it would seem, outside the pale of Isldm), but sent them back to their captivity. According to another account also given by Tabari,3 the released captives were likewise called upon to deny that God on the Last Day would be visible to men's eyes, this doctrine, like that of the uncreate Qur'an, being held by the orthodox, who in all things followed the very letter of God's Word, and utterly refused to exercise that process of tawil, or Allegorical Interpretation, affected by their antagonists. In this point again the Shi'ites of to-day are at one with the Mu'tazilites, and Muhammad Darabi, in the Apology for Hdfidh already cited (p. 283, n. i supra) gives the following verse of that poet as one which has brought him under the suspicion of inclining to the revived orthodoxy associated with the name of al-Ash'an : —
In jdn-i-'driydt hi bi Hdfidh^ sipurd Dust — Ri'tzi rukh-ash bi-binam, u taslim-i-way kunam.
"This borrowed soul which the Friend [i.e., God] entrusted to
Hafidh— One day / shall see His Face and shall yield it up to him."
It would not be just that our admiration for the Mu'tazilites, whose liberal views so greatly conduced to the splendour of this wonderful epoch, should tempt us to overlook their
1 Tabari, iii, pp. 1343-1350. See also Dozy's Vhlamisme, pp. 238-239, 3 Ibid., p. 1351. 3 Ibid., pp. 1533-4.
286 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
unusual and regrettable harshness towards those doctrines which are now generally prevalent and accounted orthodox in all Sunnite countries. Yet perhaps there was a reason for their harshness. They may have been conscious that doctrines of extreme Calvinism — or Fatalism, if the word be preferred — must in the long run (at least in Asia, which is more logical than Europe in its applications of theory to daily life) destroy effort and prevent progress ; they may have foreseen that the literal interpretation of an inspired Scripture which followed naturally from a belief in its Eternity, not only in the future but in the past, would inevitably stereotype and narrow the religious outlook in such a way that all flexibility, all power of adapting itself to new conditions or carrying conviction to the minds of intelligent men, would be lost ; and they may have felt that the belief that God could be seen by men must tend to an anthropomorphic and debased conception of the Deity. Whether or no they realised these results of the victory of orthodoxy, such were in reality its effects, and the retrograde movement of Islam, inaugurated by the triumph of al-Ash'arf (of which we shall speak in a later chapter), was but accelerated and accentuated by the overthrow of the Caliphate and the sack of Baghdad by the vandals of Mongolia in the middle of the thirteenth century. Changiz and Hulagu on the one hand, and al-Ashcan on the other, probably contributed as much as any three individuals to the destruction of the material and intellectual glories of the Golden Age of the early *Abbasid Caliphs.
The - further development of the Mu'tazilite doctrine is admirably summed up by Dozy (Chauvin's French translation, pp. 205-207) :—
"This doctrine was subsequently remodelled and propagated under the influence of the Philosophy of Aristotle.
Further develop- ; * . J ......
merit of the The sect, as was m the nature of things, subdivided.
^doctrine6 All the Mu'tazilites, however, agreed in certain points.
They denied the existence of the Attributes in
God, and contested everything which could prejudice the dogma
DOCTRINE OF THE MU'TAZILA 287
of the Divine Unit}'. To remove from God all idea of injustice, they recognised man's entire freedom of action. They taught that all the truths necessary for salvation belong to the domain of reason, and that they may be acquired solely by the light of reason, no less before than after Revelation, in such wise that man, at all times and in all places, ought to possess these truths. But to these primary propositions the different sects added others peculiar to themselves. Most of them have treated theology with much profundity ; others, on the contrary, became involved in hair-splittings, or even diverged widely from the spirit of Islam. Some there were, for example, who believed in Metempsychosis, and who imagined that the animals of each species form a community which has as a prophet an animal like unto themselves ; strange to say they based this last doctrine on two verses of the Qur'an. And there were many other follies of the same kind. But it would be unjust to render all the Mu'tazihtes responsible for the errors of some, and, when all is said and done, they deserve to be spoken of with respect. In meditating on what religion bade them believe, they became the rationalists of Islam. Thus it came about that one of their principal affirmations was that the Qur'an was really created, although the Prophet had asserted the contrary. ' Were the Qur'an uncrcate,' they said, ' it would be necessary to admit the existence of two Eternal Beings.' From the moment when the Qur'an, or Word of God, was held as something created, it could no longer, having regard to the immu- tability of the Deity, be considered as belonging to His essence. Thereby the whole dogma of revelation was little by little seriously shaken, and many Mu'tazilites frankly declared that it was not impossible to write something as good as, or even better than, the Qur'an. They therefore protested against the dogma of the divine origin of the Qur'an and against Inspiration. The idea which they entertained of God was purer and more exalted than that of the orthodox. They would not listen to any corporeal conception of the Divinity. Mahomet had said, ' One day ye shall see your Lord as you saw the full moon at the Battle of Badr,' and these words, which the orthodox took literally, were for them an ever new stumbling-block. They therefore explained them away by saying that man, after his death, would know God by the eyes of the spirit, that is to say, by the reason. They equally refused to countenance the pretension that God created the unbeliever,1 and showed them-
1 Meaning, of course, that every man was created a potential believer, and that the unbelievers only became so by their own frowardness, not by God's will.
288 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
selves but little pleased with the consecrated formula which says of God that ' He hurteth and He advantageth.' They could not admit the miracles related in the Qur'an, and so denied that the sea was dried up to yield a passage for the Israelites led by Moses, that Moses' rod was changed into a serpent, and that Jesus raised the dead to life. Mahomet himself did not escape their attacks. There was one sect which maintained that the Prophet married too many wives, and that his contemporary Abu Dharr al-Ghifari had much more self-restraint and piety than him, which also was perfectly true."
The best European accounts of the Mu'tazilites with
which I am acquainted, besides Dozy's, are those of Steiner *
and von Kremer, but I must content myself here
The Mu'tazilite . . . . '. .
and Greek with briefly indicating the results of their mvesti-
Philosophy. .
gations as to the progress, influence, relations, and final decline of this interesting movement. As to its origin these two scholars differ, the former regarding it, at least in its primary form, as " arising in Islam independently of all external influences," while the latter, as we have seen, con- siders that it was influenced even in its inception by Christian theology. Be this as it may, at a very early date it was profoundly influenced by Greek Philosophy.
"We may venture to assert," says Steiner (p. 5), "that the Mu'tazilites were the first who not only read the translations of the Greek Naturalists and Philosophers prepared under the auspices of al-Mansiir and al-Ma'mun (A.D. 754-775 and 813-833), and evolved therefrom all sorts of useful knowledge, but likewise exerted them- selves to divert into new channels their entire thoughts, which had hitherto moved only in the narrow circle of ideas of the Qur'an, to assimilate to their own uses the Greek culture, and to combine it with their Muhammadan conscience. The Philosophers proper, al-Farabi (f A.D. 950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna, f A.D. 1037), and Ibn Rushd (Averroes, f A.D. 1198), belong first to a later age. Al-Kindi (f circ. A.D. 864) was the earliest, and lived somewhat before them,
1 Two pamphlets, both published in 1865. One is entitled Die Mu'tazi- liten oder die Freidenker im Islam; the other, Die Mu'taziliten ah Vorlaufer der islamischen Dogmatiker und Philosophen, nebst Anhatig, enthaltend kritische Annterkungen zu Gazzdli's Munqidh.
DECLINE OF THE MU'TAZILA 289
but seems to have devoted his special attention to precisely those problems raised by the Mu'tazilites. His followers, however, avoided theological questions. Without directly assailing the Faith, they avoided all conflict with it, so far as possible. Theology and Natural Science, including Philosophy,1 were treated as separate territories, with the harmonising of which no further trouble was taken. Ibn Sina appears to have been a pious Muslim ; yet Shah- ristani includes him amongst those who properly belonged to no definite confession, but, standing outside Positive Religion, evolved their ideas out of their own heads (Ahlu'l-ahwd\^, Ibn Rushd also is accounted a good Muslim. He endeavoured to show that philo- sophical research was not only allowed, but was a duty, and one enjoined even by the Qur'an ; but, for the rest, he goes his own way, and his writings are, with few exceptions, of philosophic and scientific contents. Thus was the breach between Philosophy and Dogma already fully established with Ibn Sina. The Mu'tazilite party had exhausted its strength in the subtle controversies of the schools of Basra and Baghdad. Abu'l-Husayn of Basra, a contem- porary of Ibn Sina, was the last who gave independent treatment to their teaching, and in some points completed it. Zamakhshari (f A.D. 1143-4), tne famous and extraordinarily learned author of the Kashshdf, reduced the moderate ideas of his predecessors to a pleasant and artistic form, and applied them consistently and adroitly to the whole region of Qur'anic exegesis, but gave to the teaching itself no further development."
The political power of the Mu'tazilites ceased soon after the accession of al-Mutawaklcil, the tenth 'Abbasid Caliph (A.D. 847), but the school, as we have seen, was powerfully represented nearly three centuries later by Zamakhshari, the great commentator of the Qur'an. The subsequent fate of the views which they represented will be discussed to some extent in later chapters, but, for the convenience of the reader, and for the sake of continuity, we may here briefly summarise the chief stages which preceded thp, final " Destruction of the Philosophers" by al-Ghazzali and his successors, and the
1 "The Arabian Aristotelians," says Steiner, "were properly rather Natural Scientists than Philosophers ; their most signal achievements belong to the region of observation of natural phenomena, above all Medicine and Astronomy."
2O
290 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
triumph of orthodox Islam in the form wherein it now prevails in all Sunnite countries.
(i) The Period of Orthodox Reaction began with al-Muta- wakkil (A.D. 847-861), the brother and successor of al- Wathiq. Dozy, after describing some of the acts of barbarity and ingratitude committed by this "cruel and ungrateful tyrant," J continues : " Notwithstanding all this, al-Muta- wakkil was extremely orthodox, and consequently the clerical party judged him quite otherwise than we should do. A well-known Muslim historian (Abu'1-Fida) is of opinion that he went a little too far in his hatred for 'Ali, for the orthodox also held this prince, in his capacity of cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, in high esteem ; * but for the rest,' says he, * he was of the number of the most excellent Caliphs, for he forbade man to believe that the Qur'an was created.' He was orthodox ; what matter then if he was a drunkard, a volup- tuary, a perfidious scoundrel, a monster of cruelty ? But he was even more than orthodox : animated by a burning zeal for the purity of doctrine, he applied himself to the persecution of all those who thought otherwise, torturing and exterminating them as far as possible. The prescriptions relative to the Christians and Jews, which during the preceding reigns had almost fallen into oblivion, were renewed and aggravated."2 Towards 'All and his descendants this wicked Caliph enter- tained a particular hatred : it pleased him that his Court jester should pad himself with a great paunch (for 'AH had grown corpulent in later life) and, in the assumed character of the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, should dance before him with all manner of grotesque buffooneries. A celebrated philologist who, in reply to his interrogations, ventured to prefer the sons of 'All to those of the tyrant Caliph, was trampled to death by the Turkish guards. The tomb or al-Husayn, the Martyr of Kerbela, was destroyed by his order,
* Dozy's I'Islamisme (Chauvin's translation), pp. 248 et seqq. " See Tabari, iii, pp. 1389 cl scqq., and 1419.
AL-ASH'ARf 291
and its site ploughed and sown, and the visitation thereof forbidden. Even the most eminent and honourable theo- logians, such as al-Bukharf, the great traditionist, were exposed to charges of heresy.
(2) The Teaching of al-Adfari* So far, as Dozy points out, the triumph of the orthodox was merely material ; intellectually, and in methods of dialectic, they retained the same inferiority as before in respect to their opponents the Mu'tazilites. Not till twelve years had elapsed after al-Mutawaklcil's death was born (in A.M. 260 = A.D. 873-4) the man who, having been trained in the Mu'tazilite school, renounced their doctrines in his fortieth year, and, armed with the logical weapons with which they themselves had supplied him, deserted to the hostile camp, and, for the remainder of his life, carried on an energetic and successful campaign against their views. This was Abu'l- Hasan al-Ash'ari, a descendant of that foolish Abu Miisd al-Ash'ari to whose ineptitude Mu'dwiya owed so much in the arbitration of Dawmatu'l-Jandal. His literary activity was enormous, and after he had broken with his teacher, the Mu'tazilite doctor al-Jubba'i,2 he produced polemical works on all manner of theological topics to the number of two or three hundred, of which Spittas enumerates the titles of one hundred. So distrustful of philosophy were the orthodox that many of them, especially the fanatical followers of Ibn Hanbal, unwilling to believe that an alliance with it could result in aught but evil, continued to regard al-Ash'ari with the deepest suspicion ; but in the end his services to orthodoxy were fully recognised.
" In course of time," says Dozy, after speaking of the growing influence of al-Ash'ari's teaching, " the influence of the Mu'tazilites continued to diminish more and more. The loss of temporal power
1 See Spitta's excellent monograph, Zur Geschichte Abu'l-Hasan Al* Ash'arfs (Leipzig, 1876). 3 Dozy, pp. 252-256. » Op. cit., pp. 62-81.
292 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
was the first misfortune which befel them ; the defection of al-Ash'ari was the second. 'The Mu'tazilites,' says a Musulman author, ' formerly carried their heads high, but their dominion ended when God sent al-Ash'ari.' Nevertheless they did not dis- appear all at once, and perhaps they exist even at the present day, but they had no longer any power. Since the eleventh century1 they have had no doctor who has achieved renown, while the system of al-Ash'ari, on the contrary, has been more and more elaborated, so that, in its ultimate form, it includes not only religious dogma, but also embraces matters purely philosophic, such as ontology, cosmology, &c." a
)
(3) The Brethren of Purity (Ikhwanu's-Safa). For our knowledge of this remarkable society or fraternity of Ency- clopaedists and Philosophers we are chiefly indebted to Fliigel 3 and Dieterici,4 especially the latter, who has summarised and elucidated their teachings in a series of masterly monographs. Favoured by the liberal ideas of the Persian and Shi'ite House of Buwayh, who, displacing for a time the Turkish element, became practically supreme at Baghdad about the middle of the tenth century (A.D. 945), this somewhat mysterious society carried on the work of the Mu'tazilites, aiming especially at the reconciliation of Science and Religion, the harmonising of the Law of Islam with Greek Philosophy, and the synthesis of all knowledge in encyclopaedic form. The results of their labours, comprising some fifty separate treatises,5 were published, according to Fliigel, about A.D. 970, and supply us with an admirable mirror of the ideas which prevailed at this time in the most enlightened circles of the metropolis
1 Since Zamakhshari lived till A.D. 1144, it would seem better to substi- tute "twelfth " for " eleventh."
3 Dozy, pp. 255-256. 3 Z. D. M. G., vol. xiii, pp. 1-43.
4 In some dozen publications (texts, translations, and dissertations;, published between the years 1858 and 1886.
5 Published in four vols. at Bombay, A.H. 1305-6 ; a Persian version of the same, comprising fifty tracts (pp. 167), was lithographed at Bombay in A.H. 1301 = A.D. 1884. For the contents of these tracts see Dieterici's Die Philosophic der Araber im x Jahrhundert nach Christ., enter Theil, Einleitung u. Makrokosmos (Leipzig, 1876), pp. 131-137.
THE IKHWANU 'S-SAFA 293
of the 'Abbasid Caliphs. As authors of these tracts five men of learning are named by Shahrazuri, viz., Abu Sulayman Muhammad b. Nasr al-Busti, called also al-Muqaddasi (or al-Maqdasi), Abu'l-Hasan 'All b. Hdrun az-Zinjdnf, Abu Ahmad an-Nahrajuri (or Mihrajani), al-'Awfi, and Zayd b. Rifa'a ; of whom, having regard to their nisbas^ the first three at any rate would seem to have been Persians. So too was Ibn Sind (Avicenna), the great physician and philosopher with whose death (A.D. 1037), according to Dieterici,1 "the development of philosophy in the East came to an end."
(4) Al-Ghazzali, " the Proof of Islam " and Champion of Orthodoxy. This eminent theologian, who was professor at the Nidhamiyya College of Baghdad from A.D. 1091 to 1095, and died in A.D. mi, who had explored all realms of specu- lation accessible to him, and had at last found refuge in the mysticism of the more moderate $iifis, " felt himself called," as Steiner says,2 "to stand forth as the scientific apologist or Islam, and to restore the threatened faith to surer ground." Tholuck (Bib/. Sacra^ vi, 233), cited by H. A. Homes at pp. 7-8 of his translation of the Turkish version of the Alchemy of Happiness (Albany, N.Y., 1873) appraises him very highly. " GhazzaH," says he, " if ever any man has deserved the name, was truly a divine, and he may justly be placed on a level with Origen, so remarkable was he for learn- ing and ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful and worthy exposition of doctrine. All that is good, worthy, and sublime which his great soul had compassed, he bestowed upon Muhammadanism ; and he adorned the doc- trines of the Qur'dn with so much piety and learning that, in the form given them by him, they seem, in my opinion, worthy the assent of Christians. Whatsoever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle or in the Sufi mysticism, he dis-
1 Die Philosophic det Araber im x Jahrhimdert nach Christ., enter Theil, Einlcilung it. Makrokosmos (Leipzig, 1876), p. 158. 3 Mu'tazilttcn, p. 12.
294 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
erectly adapted to the Muhammadan theology. From every school he sought the means of shedding light and honour upon religion, while his sincere piety and lofty conscientiousness imparted to all his writings a sacred majesty. He was the first of Muhammadan divines." Dieterici, on the other hand, judges him harshly. *" As a despairing sceptic," says he,1 " he springs suicidally into the All-God [*.<?., the all-pervading Deity of the Pantheists] to kill all scientific reflexion."
The teachings of the " Brethren of Purity " were carried to the West by a Spanish Arab of Madrid, Muslim b. Muhammad Abu'l-Qasim al-Majnti al-Andalusi, who died in A.D. 1004-1005. Thanks to them, and later to the great Moorish philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Spain became a centre of philosophical learning, whence, during the Middle Ages, Europe derived such light as it possessed on these great questions. "The strife between Nominalism and Realism," says Dieterici,2 " which for centuries stirred the learned world, is a product of this development, and had already, during the ninth and tenth centuries, set in motion all the minds of the East."
Of the Sunnites little need here be said, since, though numerous in Persia under the various Turkish or half Turkish dynasties which generally prevailed there until the rise of the Safawis in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and counting amongst their numbers Persians so eminent as P"aridu'd-DI:i 'Attar, Sa'di, Jalalu'd-Din Riimi, and many others, they were never really in harmony with Persian tendencies and aspirations, and are at the present day almost extinct save at Lar and in a few other districts. It should be mentioned, however, that the founders of the four orthodox schools, those of the Hanafites, Malikites, Shafi'ites, and Hanbalites, all flourished during this period of Mu'tazilite domination. Of these the eldest, Abu Hanifa, was born in A.D. 700 and died in 767. He was of
1 Op, cit,, p. 157. « Op. cit., p. 161,
THE ORTHODOX SCHOOLS 295
Persian descent.1 Malik was born at Madfna in A.D. 713 or 714, and died in 795. He was cruelly flogged by al-Mansur for suspected disaffection towards the 'Abbasid dynasty ; " from which time," says Ibn Khallikin,2 ." he rose higher and higher in public estimation, so that the punishment he underwent seemed as if it had been an honour conferred upon him." Ash-Shan" 'i was an Arab of the tribe of Quraysh, was born in the year (some say 3 on the very day) of Abu Hanifa's decease, and died at Cairo in A.D. 820. Lastly, Ahmad b. Hanbal, a native of Merv, but apparently of Arab race, was born in A.D. 780, and died at Baghdad in 855. He was the favourite pupil of ash-Shafi'i, who said, on setting out for Egypt, " I went forth from Baghdad leaving behind me no more pious man and no better jurisconsult than Ibn Hanbal. "4 To his steadfast courage in refusing to admit that the Qur'an was created allusion has already been made.
These are the four " Imams " of the orthodox Sunnites, and
the schools which they founded differ but in minor points, and
are on good terms with one another. The Hana-
dox schools fite school prevails in Turkey, the Malikite in
ot tlic Sunnis. ,, . -,. ,rt. . _
Morocco, the Shafnte in Egypt and Arabia, and the Hanbalite in some parts of Africa. All are held in equal contempt by the Shicites ; and Ndsir-i-Khusraw, the great Isma'ili poet and propagandist of the eleventh century of our era, goes so far as to accuse them of sanctioning the most detestable vices 5 — a charge which, save in so far as concerns the alleged crudely anthropomorphic tendencies of the Hanbalites, merits no serious consideration.
Of the Shi'ites it will be more convenient to speak at length in a subsequent chapter, but it may be noted that
The Shi'itcs. . ' '
the great schism which divided them into the
1 See de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan, vol. iii, p. 555. ' Ibid., vol. ii, p. 547. This probably occurred in A.D. 764-5. 3 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 571. « Ibid., vol. i, p. 44.
* See his Diwdn, lithographed at Tabriz in A.H. 1280, pp. 115 and 209. Cf. Dozy's Islamistne, pp. 441-443.
296 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
"Sect of the Seven" (Sabliyya] or Isma'ilis, and the " Sect of
the Twelve" (Ithna lashariyya) which prevails in Persia at the
present day, had its origin in this period which
Origin of the • i • T i i • r i T <•
-sect of the we are considering. In the doctrine of the Ima-
Seven " and the , , , . • , . ...
"Sect of the mate, the belief that the supreme spiritual autho-
Twelve."
rity must be vested in one of the descendants of 'All, designated in each case by his predecessor, and endowed with supernatural or even divine attributes, both sects are agreed, and they are also agreed as to the succession of Imams as far as the sixth, Ja'far as-Sadiq, who died A.£.j?6^. : Here, however, the difference begins. Ja'far had in the first instance designated his eldest son Isma'fl to succeed him, but later (owing, it is generally said, to his discovery that Isma'il had indulged in the forbidden juice of the grape) he took the Imamate from him and conferred it on his younger brother J^Iusa^ .railed al-fcadhim^ Soon afterwards Isma'il died, and his body was publicly shown ere its interment, in order that there might be no doubt as to the fact of his death. Yet, though most of the Shi'ites transferred their allegiance to Musa, some remained faithful to Isma'il, either refusing to believe that he was dead (for he was reported by some to have been seen subsequently to the date of his alleged death at Basra),1 or maintaining that the Imdmate had been transmitted through him (since he had predeceased his father, and had therefore, in their view, never actually assumed the Imam's functions) to his son Muhammad ; in either case fixing the total number of Imams at seven, and repudiating the claims of Musa and his five successors. Further discussion of the developments of these two sects may be conveniently deferred to a subsequent chapter. Lastly, a few words must be said here of the earlier Sufis, or Mystics, whose fully developed system of Spiritualistic Pantheism will be described in another place.
The early Sufis. . .
Their name, as is now generally admitted, has nothing at all to do with the Greek aofyoq (which appears, 1 Shahristdni, ed. Cureton, p. 146.
THE EARLY StfF/S
written with the soft letter */», not the hard sad^ in the Arabic faylashfy " philosopher," and safsati, " sophist ") ; nor, as the Sufis themselves pretend, with the Arabic root safd, " purity " j nor with the ahlus-su/a, or "people of the bench," religious mendicants of the early days of Islim who sat outside the mosque craving alms from the devout ; but is simply derived from the Arabic word suf, " wool," as is shown, amongst other things, by the Persian epithet pashmlna-pushy "wool-clad," which is commonly applied to them. Woollen garments were from the first regarded as typical of the primitive simplicity affected by the early Muslims : of 'Umar, the second Caliph, Mas'udi tells us1 that "he used to wear a jubba of wool (s&f) patched with pieces of leather and the like," while Salmon the Persian is described by the same historian2 as " wearing woollen raiment," and the same fact is recorded 3 of Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah. Later, when luxury became prevalent, those who adhered to the old simple ways of the Prophet's immediate successors, silently protesting against the growing worldliness and extravagance of their contemporaries, were termed "Sufis," and, in this earliest form, alike in respect to their simple attire, their protest against ostentation and extrava- gance, their piety and quietism, they present a remarkable analogy with the early Quakers. There is always in extreme quietism, and that spirituality which is impatient of mere formal worship and lip-service, a tendency towards Pantheism ; but in these early Sufis this tendency is much less noticeable than, for instance, in Eckhart, Tauler, and the fourteenth- century German mystics ; though later, under the influence of Neo-Platonist ideas, it became very conspicuous. Of the early §ufis al-Qushayri (d. A.D. 1073) sPea^s as follows : — 4
" Know that after the death of the Apostle of God the most excel- lent of the Muslims were not at the time distinguished by any
1 Muruju'dh-Dhahab, ed. Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, p. 193.
• Ibid., p. 195. 3 ibid., p. 196.
« Cited at p. 31 of Jami's Nafiilnitu'l-Uns, ed. Nassau Lees, Calcutta, 1858.
298 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
distinctive name save in regard to their companionship with the Apostle, seeing that there existed no greater distinction than this; wherefore they were called ' the Companions.' And when those of the second period came in contact with them, such of these as had held converse with the ' Companions ' were named the ' Followers,' a title which they regarded as of the noblest. Then those who succeeded them were called ' Followers of the Followers.' There- after men differed, and diverse degrees became distinguished, and the elect of mankind, who were vehemently concerned with matters of religion, were called ' Ascetics ' and ' Devotees.' Then heresies arose, and there ensued disputes between the different sects, each one claiming to possess ' Ascetics,' and the elect of the people of the Sunna (the Sunnites), whose souls were set on God, and who guarded their hearts from the disasters of heedlessness, became known by the name of Sufis ; and this name became generally applied to these great men a little before the end of the second century of the Flight" (A.H. 2oo = A.D. 815-816).
A little further on (op. cit.y p. 34) Jami explicitly states that the term "Sufi" was first applied to Abu Hashim, who was born at Kufa, but passed most of his life in Syria, and died in A.D. 777-8 ; and (p. 36) that the Sufi doctrines were first explained and expressed by Dhu'n-Nun of Egypt, a pupil of Malik (the founder of the Malikite school mentioned above), who died in A.D. 860, that they were expanded, systematised, and reduced to writing by Junayd of Baghdad (d. A.D. 910), and openly preached in the pulpit by Shibli (d. A.D. 945). Very few of the great Sufi teachers lived before the close of the second century of the Flight (A.D. 815-816) : Ibrahim b. Adham (t A.D. 777), Da'iid of Tayy (t A.D. 781), Fudayl b. 'lyad (t A.D. 803), and Ma'ruf of Karkh (t A.D. 815), were, I think, the only ones of note except the above-men- tioned Abu Hashim. Hasan of Basra (t A.D. 728), who has been already spoken of in connection with the Mu'tazilites, is sometimes reckoned amongst them ; but, as Dozy has pointed out,1 his sombre religion, chiefly inspired by fear, contrasts
1 L'lslamisme (Chauvin's French translation), pp. 319-320. Cf. also pp. 201-202, where Hasan's character is well depicted.
THE EARLY StfF/S 299
sharply with the religion of love proper to the mystics. The saintly woman Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya1 (t 752-753) is a far better type of the true mystic, and many of her sayings strongly recall those of Saint Theresa. It is in allusion to her that Jami says in his Nafahdt (ed. Nassau Lees, p. 716) : —
Wa law kdna 'n-nisd'u ka-md dhakarna La faddaltu 'n-nisd'a 'ala'r-rijdli ; Fa lat-ta'niihu li'smi 'sh-shanisi 'ayb'"1, Wa la 'l-iadhkiru fakhr"" li'l-hildli.
"Were women all like those whom here I name, Woman to man I surely would prefer; The Sun is feminine,3 nor deems it shame ; The Moon, though masculine,8 depends on her."
The following anecdote told by Dozy 3 is typical of her attitude : One day, being ill, she was visited by Hasan of Basra and Shaqiq of Balkh. The former said, " That one is not sincere in faith who does not patiently endure the chastening of the Lord." Shaqfq, desiring to improve upon this, said, " That one is not sincere in faith who does not find pleasure in the chastening of the Lord." But Rabi'a replied, " That one is not sincere in faith who, in the contemplation of the Lord, does not forget the chastening."
It is related in the Memoirs of the Saints compiled by Shaylch Fandu'd-Din 'Attar, a great Persian mystic of the thirteenth century, that she was once asked, " Dost thou hate the Devil ? " " No," she replied. They asked, " Why not ? " u Because," said she, " my love for God leaves me no time to hate him." " I saw the Prophet of God," she continued, "in a dream, and he asked me, ' O Rabi'a, dost thou love me ? ' * O Apostle of God,' I replied, c who is there who loveth thee not ? But the love of God hath so taken possession of every particle
• See de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp. 515-517.
• In Arabic grammar. * Op. cit., p. 319.
360 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
of my being that there is no room left me to love or hate any one else.' "
These sayings, which might be indefinitely multiplied, will indicate the character of this early mysticism of Islam. The wild pantheistic character which is later assumed, especially in Persia, was, as I think, superadded to it at a much later date. The philosophy — so far as it can be called a philosophy — which it gradually developed is, in my opinion, mainly of Neo- Platonist origin,1 and, contrary to a view which, though losing ground, is still very prevalent, was very little, if at all, influenced by Indian speculations.8 -Von Kremer differentiates the earlier Arabian quietist Sufiism from the later Persian pantheistic development, expressing the opinion 3 " that Sufiism proper, as it finds expression in the different Dervish orders (which I sharply distinguish from the simple ascetic aim which already appeared in the earliest Christianity, whence it passed over into Islam) arose essentially from Indian ideas, and in particular from that school of Indian philosophy known by the name of Vedanta."
In another place 4 he says : —
" It appears, indeed, that Sufiism took into itself two different elements, an older Christian-ascetic, which came strongly to the front even in the beginning of Islam, and then later a Buddhist- contemplative, which soon, in consequence of the increasing influence of the Persians on Islam, obtained the upper hand, and called into being the Mystics proper of Islam. The former aim expressed more the Arabian character, the latter the Persian."
Fully admitting the force and value of this distinction, I am
1 This point has been very admirably worked out by my friend and former pupil, Mr. R. A. Nicholson, in his Selected Poems from the Divdn-j. Shams-i-Tabriz (Cambridge, 1898), especially pp. xxx-xxxvi. Cf. von Kremer, Gesch.-Streifzuge, p. 45.
a This is, for example, Dozy's view (I'lslamisme, p. 317), and he cites Trumpp (Z. D. M. G., xvi, p. 244) as saying " Dass der Sufismus ein indisches Produkt ist, dariiber kann kein Zweifel obwalten, und noch naher bestimmt ist der Sufismus ein speciell Buddhistisches Erzeugniss." » Gesch.-Streifzuge, p. 46. 4 Herrsch. Id., p. 67.
ORIGIN OF SUF1ISM 301
not convinced that the existence of Indian influence has been satisfactorily proved. Persian studies have suffered much at the hands of Indianists and Comparative Mythologists and Philologists, t.g.y in the attempts made to explain the Avesta solely from the Vedas without regard to the Zoroastrian tradition on the one hand, and in the favour accorded, particularly in England and Germany, to the hideous Indian pronunciation of the modern language on the other, not to mention the exaggerated admiration often expressed for the Persian compositions of Indian writers, and the concurrent neglect of all Persian literature produced in Persia during the last four centuries x ; and we have good reason to be on our guard against the tendency of Indianists to trace everything, so far as possible, to an Indian origin, or to generalise about " the Aryan genius." Long before Neo-Platonism came to the Arabs it was, as has been already observed (p. 167 supra} brought to Persia in the days of Nushirwan (sixth century of our era), and I confess that, so far as I can judge, Sufi pantheism presents far more striking analogies with Neo- Platonism than with either Vedantism or Buddhism, while historically it is much more likely that it borrowed from the first than from either of the two last. To the later develop- ments of Sufiism, to which alone those remarks apply, we shall recur in a subsequent chapter.
Before leaving the religious manifestations of this epoch, it is proper to remind the reader what religions, besides Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, and Christianity, and what ™eMugh<Kib. philosophies, besides those of the Greeks, were still
active and potent forces in Western Asia. Apart from Manichaeanism, of which we shall have a few more words to say, elements of the old Babylonian civilisation were
1 See, for example, the article on Persian Literature in the Encyclopedia Britanmca. Dr. Ethe does more justice to the modern poets of Persia in his article Neupcrsische Litteratur (pp. 311-316) in vol. ii of Geiger and Kubn's Grnndriss dcr Iranischen Pliilologie (Str«issburg, 1897).
302 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
represented by the Mandaeans or true Sabaeans (Sabiyun) of the marshes between Wasit and Basra (the ancient Chaldsea), also named by the Arabs from their frequent ceremonial ablutions al-Mughtanla^ which term, misapprehended by the Portuguese navigators of the seventeenth century, gave rise in Europe to the absurd misnomer u Christians of St. John the Baptist."*
From these true Sabaeans the pseudo-Sabaeans of Harran (the ancient Carrhae) must be carefully distinguished. The learned Chwolson was the first to explain in his great work Sabransof Die Ssobler und der Ssabismus (2 vols., St. Peters- burg, 1856) the apparently hopeless confusion which till that time had surrounded the term "Sabasan." Here we must confine ourselves to stating the curious fact which he brought to light, viz., that since about A.D. 830 two perfectly distinct peoples have been confounded together under this name, to wit, the above-mentioned Mandasans or Mughtasila of Chaldasa, and the Syrian heathens who flourished at Harran (about half-way between Aleppo and Mardin) until the eleventh century of our era,2 and that this confusion was brought about in the following way.3 When the Caliph al-Ma'mun passed through the district of Harran on his last campaign against the Byzantines, he remarked amongst the people who came out to meet him and wish him God-speed certain persons of strange and unfamiliar appearance, wearing
1 See Chwolson's Ssabier und Ssabismus, vol. i, p. 100. The most important works on the Mandaeans are : Dr. A. J. H. Wilhelm Brandt, Die Manddische Religion (1889) ; Idem, Mand'aische Sckriften (1893) ; Mand. Grammalik by Th. Noldeke, 1875 ; H. Pognon, Consul de France a Alep, Inscr. Maud, des coupes de Khouabir (1898).; Of the book of the Mandaeans, the Sidrd Rabbit or Ginzd, there are two editions, Norberg's, in three vols. (1815-1816), and Petennann's, in two vols., (1867). Noldeke describes their literature as " eine Literatur, welche voll des grossten Widersinns ist, geschrieben in eine Mundart von der ein Kenner des Syrisches zunachst den Eindruck starker Entartung erhalt."
3 Chwolson, op. cit., i, pp. 669, 671.
3 Ibid., ii, pp. 14-19- The facts are recorded in the Fihrist (ed. Fliigel, pp. 320-321) on the authority of an almost contemporary Christian writer, Abu Yusuf al-Qati'i.
THE SABAEANS 303
their hair extremely long, and clad in tightly-fitting coats (qabty. Al-Ma'mun, astonished at their appearance, inquired who and what they were, to which they replied, " Harranians." Being further questioned, they said that they were neither Christians, Jews, nor Magians ; while to the Caliph's inquiry " whether they had a Holy Book or a Prophet," they returned " a confused reply." Convinced at last that they were heathens (" Zindiqs and worshippers of idols "), the Caliph ordered them, under pain of death, either to embrace Islam, or to adopt "one of the religions which God Almighty hath mentioned in His Book," giving them respite for their decision till his return from the war. Terrified by these threats, the Harranians cut their long hair and discarded their peculiar garments, while many became Christians or Muhammadans ; but a small remnant would not forsake their own religion, and were greatly perplexed and troubled until a Muhammadan jurist offered, for a consideration, to show them a way out of their difficulty. So they brought him much fine gold from their treasuries, and he counselled them to call themselves Sabasans when al-Ma'mun returned to question them, since the Sabaeans were mentioned in the Qur'an, yet, since little was known of them, the change of name would involve no change of beliefs or customs. But al-Ma'mun returned not, for death overtook him on that march ; and most of the Harranians who had declared themselves Christians at once openly apostatised, and returned to their old beliefs, which their brethren who had adopted Isldm dared not do, since apostasy is punished with death in the Muhammadan law. And " since that time," says the narrator, " they have kept this name (of Sabaeans) ; for previously there were in Harrdn and the surrounding district no people who bore the name of Sabaeans."
Now these pseudo-Sabasans of Harrdn, a remnant of the ancient Syrian pagans of Mesopotamia, included " une elite d'hommes fort instruits, un corps d'aristocrates d'esprit, qui se sont distingues dans les sciences, et qui ont enrichi les litteratures
304 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
syrienne et arabe d'un grand nombre d'ouvrages traitant de diverses matieres." J Harran, since the time of Alexander the Great, had been deeply under the influence of Greece, so that it was surnamed 'EAAijvoTroAte, and its inhabitants, though speaking at this time the purest dialect of Syriac, were in many cases partly Greek by extraction. % Strongly opposed to the Christianity professed by most of their compatriots, they were deeply attached to Greek culture, and more particularly to the Neo-Platonist philosophy ; and for khis reason their city had long served as a rallying-point for all those, including the Emperors Caracalla and Julian the Apostate, who clung passionately to pagan Culture. And now, under the 'Abbasid Caliphate, it was these pagans of Harran who, more than any one else, imparted to the Muslims all the learning and wisdom of the Greeks which they had so jealously guarded ; providing the capital of the Caliphs with a series of brilliant scholars, such as Thdbit b. Qurra (t A.D. 901), his son Abu Sa'id Sindn, his grandsons Ibrdhim and Abu'l-Hasan Thabit, his great-grandsons Ishdq and Abu'l-Faraj, and many others, whose biographies will be found in chap, xii of the first book of Chwolson's great work. Many of these attained positions of the greatest eminence as physicians, astronomers, mathe- maticians, geometricians, and philosophers ; and, thanks to their influence at a Court singular in the world's history for its devotion to learning, their co-religionists were suffered to con- tinue in their thinly-disguised paganism.2
The Syrians, both heathen and Christian, werd, indeed, the
1 Kunik's compte-rendu of Chwolson's work, Melanges Asiatiques, vol. i, p. 663. ..
3 Several sects existing in Western Asia at the present day, such as the Nusayris, the Yezidis (or so-called " Devil-worshippers,") &c., are, as Chwolson and others have pointed out, almost certainly survivals of ancient pagan communities ; though, to secure a doubtful tolerance from their Muhammadan governors, they have been careful to conceal their real beliefs and practices, and to vindicate their right to be regarded and treated as " People of the Book," by a liberal, though not always skilful use of names regarded by the Muslims as holy.
THE SYRIANS OF HARRAN 30$
great transmitters of Greek learning to the East, whence it was brought back by the Arabs to the West. The matter is so important that I subjoin a translation of Carl Brockel- mann's excellent remarks : — x
"Syria and Mesopotamia were, from the time of Alexander the Great and his followers, exposed to the influences of Greek civilisa- tion. The supremacy of the Romans and their successors the Byzantines in Syria furthered in every way the diffusion of Hellenic culture, which made special progress from the time when, associated with Christianity, it began to react on the religious sense of the people. The Syrians were, indeed, but feebly disposed for original production, but they were extraordinarily inclined and fitted to assimilate to themselves the results of foreign intellectual endeavour. Thus there arose in the Syrian monasteries numerous translations, not only of the spiritual literature most widely current in the Greek Church, but also of nearly all the profane authors (notably of Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen) who dominated the secular learning of that epoch.
" Already in the Persian Empire under the rule of the Sasanians the Syrians ^w^te^hgJiajtsjnjttej^^JSreel^ culture. Naturally it was only secular learning which was there promoted by the Court and Government. About the year A.D. 550 Khu^ca^y.^AjiuahicaaQ founded
3 ^njwr^TFy fnr the pursuit of philoso-
phicaandmedical studies, and this plant of Graeco-Syrian culture continued to flourish even into 'Abbasid times.
" Greek learning found a third home in the Mesopotamian city of Harran, whose inhabitants, surrounded by a wholly Christianised population, had retained their ancient Semitic heathenism. With them, as formerly in Babylon, the disposition for mathematical and astronomical studies was closely united therewith. But with them also, notwithstanding the fairly high level which they had already attained through the Assyrian-Babylonian civilisation, these studies did not remain uninfluenced by the Greek spirit.
" From all these three sources, now, was Greek learning brought to the Arabs in translations. Already at the Court of al-Mansiir we / meet with a physician fj^m^undi-Shan_yr, who is supposed to have / translated medical works intoAfabicTwhile under Harun flourished I the translator ^j^^fl^b.M^^i^l^. But it wa's ffie Caliph al- J Ma'mun, himself filled witlT understanding of, and a lively interest in,
1 Gesch. d. Arabische Litteratur, vol. i, pp. 201 et seqq, 21
3o6
all scientific endeavours, who gave the greatest impulse to this activity. ^Hff gfll^"' 1-fiihjHn. (^prmftft of WkHnm '), with its attached library and astronomical observatory, founded by him in Baghdad, was the culminating point of an active endeavour to promote learning. The translations produced under him and his immediate successors have entirely overshadowed those of the older school, and are alone preserved to us."
Amongst the most eminent translators whose names here follow are the Christians, Qusta b. Luqa of Ba'labaklc (Baalbek) ; Hunayn b. Ishaq of Hira, his son Ishaq, and his nephew Hubaysh.
Thus did the civilisation of 'Abbasid Baghdad become the inheritor of the ancient wisdom of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, India, and Greece ; and for this it was chiefly indebted to heathens like Thabit b. Qurra, Christians like Hunayn and Qusta, Magians, converted or unconverted, like Ibnu '1- Muqaffa4,1 or Mu'tazilite " heretics " like 'Amr b. Bahr al- Jahidh, besides sundry Jews and Nabathaeans. To this splendid synthesis the Arabs, though, as it has been said, " one of the acutest peoples that have ever existed," lent little save their wonderful and admirable language ; but the functions of assimilation, elucidation, and transmission they performed in a manner which has made mankind, and especially Europe, their debtors. That they were sensible of their own indebtedness to these non-Muslims, who bestowed upon them the wisdom of the ancients, appears, amongst other things, from the elegy composed in praise of Thabit b. Ourra, the Sabnean physician and mathematician, by the poet San ar-Raffa,2 wherein he
1 Amongst translators from Pahlawi into Arabic are mentioned in the Fihrist (ed. Fliigel, pp. 244-245), besides Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', the family of Naw-Bakht (see also op. cit., pp. 177 and 274), who were ardent Shi'ites, BaN nirn, the son of Mardan-shah, nnibad of Nishapur, and a dozen others. Mention is also made of two learned Indians who made translations from the Sanskrit, and of the celebrated Ibnu' 1-Wahshiyya who translated the Book of Nabathcean Agriculture.
2 Ibn Khallikan, Wiistenfeld's text, vol. i, No. 127 ; de Slane's transl., vol. i, pp. 288-289.
HERESY IN FASHION- 307
says: "Philosophy was dead, and he revived it amongst us; the traces of medicine were effaced, and he restored them to light." Strange and heterogeneous were the elements which made up the intellectual atmosphere of Baghdad during the first century of 'Abbasid rule. The pious Muslims of Mecca and Madlna who came thither were scandalised to find unbelievers invested with the highest offices at Court, and learned men of every religion holding friendly debate as to high questions of ontology and philosophy, in which, by common consent, all appeal to revealed Scripture was forbidden. Yet was there one religious community which seemed wholly excluded from the general toleration of that latitudinarian Court : to wit, the Manichaeans, or Zindiqs as they were generally called. Perse- cutions of the Zindiqs are mentioned by Tabarf as occurring in the reign of al-Mahd{ (A.D. 780, 782) and al-Had{ (A.D. 786-7). In the reign of Haninu'r-Rashfd a special Inquisitor (Sahibu 'z-Zanddiqa] was appointed to detect and punish Manichaeans,1 amongst whom not only Persians and other foreigners, but even pure Arabs, like the poets Sdlih b. *Abdu' 1- Quddiis and Mud4 b. Ayds, were numbered. In the reign of al-Ma'mun, whose truly Persian passion for religious specula- tion earned him the title of dmlru l-Kafirln, " Commander of the Unfaithful," 2 the lot of the Zindiqs was less hard ; nay, according to von Kremer3 it was fashionable to pose as a heretic, and we find a poet remonstrating in the following lines with one of these sheep dressed in wolf's clothing : —
" 0 Ibn Ziydd, father oj Ja'farf Thou professest outwardly another creed than that which tltou
hidesi in thy heart.
Outwardly, according to thy words, thou art a Zindiq, But inwardly thou art a respectable Musl'm. Thou art no Zindiq, but thou desirest to be regarded as in the
fashion .'"
1 Von Kramer's Streifzfige, pp. 210 et scqq.
• Al-Ya'qiibi, ed. Houtsma, p. 546. 3 op. cit., pp. 41-42.
CHAPTER IX
THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS OF THIS PERIOD
THE active life of the pre-Muslim creeds of Persia, as opposed
to outwardly Muhammadan heresies embodying and reviving
in new forms pre-Muslim and non-Muslim ideas.
Bih-afaridh. .
finds its latest expression in the Pseudo-Prophet
Bih-afarfdh the son of Mahfurudhi'n, of whom scanty
accounts are preserved to us in the Fihrist (p. 344)
Ai-Bininj's an(j jn al-Bi'ninPs Chronology of Ancient Nations
account of him. °J J
(Sachau's transl., pp. 193-4), whereof the latter is as follows : —
" In the days of Abu Muslim, the founder of the 'Abbasid dynasty, came forward a man called Bih-afaridh the son of Mahfurudhin in Khwaf, one of the districts of Nishapur, in a place called Sira- wand, he being a native of Zawzan. In the beginning of his career he disappeared and betook himself to China r for seven years. Then he returned, bringing with him amongst other Chinese curiosities a green shirt, which, when folded up, could be held in the grasp of a man's hand, so thin and flexible it was. He went up to a temple during the night, and on descending thence in the morning was observed b) a peasant who was ploughing part of his field. He told this man that he had been in heaven during his absence from them, that heaven and hell had been shown unto him, that God had inspired him, had clothed him in that shirt, and had sent him down to earth in that same hour. The peasant believed his words, and told people that
Perhaps influenced by the legend of Mani (Manes). 308
BIH-AFARfDH 309
he had beheld him descending from heaven. So he found many adherents amongst the Magians when he came forward as a prophet and preached his new doctrine.
" He differed from the Magians in most rites, but believed in Zoroaster and claimed for his followers all the institutes of Zoroaster. He maintained that he secretly received divine revelations, and established seven prayers for his followers, one in praise of the one God, one relating to the creation of heaven and earth, one relating to the creation of the animals and their nourishment, one relating to death, one relating to the Resurrection and Last Judgment, one relating to those in heaven and hell and what is prepared for them, and one in praise of the people of Paradise.
" He composed for them a book in Persian. He ordered them to worship the substance of the Sun, kneeling on one knee, and in praying always to turn towards the Sun wherever it might be ; to let their hair and locks grow ; to give up the zamzama ' at dinner ; not to sacrifice small cattle unless they were already enfeebled ; not to drink wine ; not to eat the flesh of animals that have died a sudden death, as not having been killed according to prescription ; not to marry their mothers, daughters, sisters, or nieces,3 and not to exceed the sum of four hundred dirhams as dowry. Further, he ordered them to keep roads and bridges in good condition by means of the seventh part of their property and of the produce of their labour.
"When Abu Muslim came to Nishapiir, the miibadhs and herbadlts3 assembled before him, telling him that this man had infected Islam as well as tlieir own religion. So he sent 'Abdu'llah b. Shu'ba to fetch him. He caught him in the mountains of Badghis and brought him before Abu Muslim, who put him to death, together with such of his followers as he could capture.
" His followers, called Bih-dfaridhiyya, still keep the institutes of their founder, and strongly oppose the Zamzamis amongst the Magians. They maintain that the servant of their prophet had told them that the prophet had ascended into heaven on a common dark- brown horse, and that he will again descend unto them in the same way as he ascended, and will take vengeance on his enemies." 4
' That is, the mumbling of prayers and graces chararacteristic of the Zoroastrian practice.
* These marriages (called kkvetu-das) were not only sanctioned but approved by Zoroastrianism.
3 The priests of the second and third grades of the Zoroastrian religion. The chief priests are called dastur.
4 Compare the expectations entertained by the followers of al-Muqanna,
3io THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
According to the short account in the Fihrtst (p. 344), Bih-dfarfdh accepted Islam at the hands of two of Abu Muslim's ddlh named Shabi'b b. Dab. and 'Ab du'llah b. Sa'id, and adopted the black raiment of the 'Abbasids ; but afterwards apostatised and was slain. This account, which rests on the authority of Ibrdhim b. al-'Abbas as-Sulf (t A.D. 857-8), adds that "there are to this day in Khurasdn a number of people who hold his doctrine." The sect is also mentioned, with the alternative name of Saysdniyya, by Shahristanf (p. 187), who describes them as " the most hostile of God's creatures to the Zamzamf Magians," adding that " they recognise the prophetic mission of Zoroaster, and honour those kings whom Zoroaster honours."
The meagre information which we possess concerning Bih- afarfdh does not permit us to form a clear idea as to the essential nature of his doctrine, of which the two ^doctrine*5 most important features, perhaps, are the promi- nence accorded to the number seven, and the belief in the " occultation " and " return " of the founder. Of the importance attached to certain numbers (7, 12, 19, &c.) by various sects deriving from the extreme Shfites (Ghuldt}^ and of the persistent recurrence of the belief in the " Return " (rtfat] of their heroes, we shall come across numerous examples from this epoch down to our own days. Concerning these Ghuldt or extreme Shi'ites Shahristanf says (p. 132) : —
" They are such as hold extreme views (ghalaw) in respect to their
Imams, so that they raise them above the limits of created beings,
and ascribe to them Divine virtues, so that often they
Jtreme Sh/'ites liken one of the Imams to God> and often they liken
God to mankind, thus falling into the two extremes of
excess (ghuluivu>) and defect (taqsir). These anthropomorphic
tendencies of theirs are derived from the sects of the Hululiyya
as to his " Return" in the section devoted to him a few pages further on. Al-Balkhi, writing about A.H. 350 (A.D. 960), speaks of the Bih-afaridhis as existing in his time from personal knowledge. See vol. i of Cl. Huart's ed, and transl. of the Kitdbiil- Bad' wa't-Ta'rikh, p. 164 of the translation,
THE ULTRA-SHf'ITES 311
[who believe that the Deity can pass into a human form], the Tandsukhiyya [who hold the doctrine of Metempsychosis], the Jews, and the Christians. For the Jews liken the Creator to the creature, while the Christians liken the creature to the Creator. And these anthropomorphic tendencies have so infected the minds of these ultra-Shi'ites that they ascribe Divine virtues to some of their Imams. This anthropomorphism belongs primarily and essentially to the Shi'a, and only subsequently was adopted by certain of the Sunnis. . . . The heretical doctrines of the ultra-Shi'ites are four : — Anthropomorphism (tashbih), change of [Divine] Purpose (bada), return [of the Imam ; rij'at], and Metempsychosis (tandsukh). In every land they bear different names; in Isfahan they are called Khurramiyya and Ki'idiyya, in Ray Mazdakiyya and Sinbddiyya, in Adharbayjan Dhaqriliyya, in some places Muhammira (wearing red as their badge), and ill Transoxiana Mubayyida (wearing white as their badge)."
These ultra-Shi'ite sects, then, which we have now to con- sider, and which, under the leadership of Sinbadh the Magian, al-Muqanna* " the Veiled Prophet of Khurasan," Babalc, and others, caused such commotion in Persia during this period, do but reassert, like the later Isma'ilis, Batinis, Carmathians, Assassins, and Hurufis, the same essential doctrines of Anthro- pomorphism, Incarnation, Re-incarnation or " Return," and Metempsychosis ; which doctrines appear to be endemic in Persia, and always ready to become epidemic under a suitable stimulus. In our own days they appeared again in the Babi movement, of which, especially in its earlier form (A.D. 1844-1852), they constituted the essential kernel; though in later time, under the guidance of Baha'u'lldh (t A.D. 1892) and now of his son 'Abbas Efcndi "the Most Great Branch" (who appears to be regarded by his followers as a " Return " of Jesus Christ, and is so considered by the now fairly numerous adherents of this doctrine in America), they have been relegated to a subordinate, or at least a less conspicuous, position. The resemblance <• between these numerous sects, whose history can be clearly traced through the last eleven centuries and a half, is most remarkable, and
312 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
extends even to minute details of terminology, and to the choice of particular colours (especially red and white) as badges. Thus the early Babis, like the Mubayyida of the period now under discussion, wore white apparel,1 while they imitated the Muhammira in their fondness for red by their choice of ink of that colour in transcribing their books. An interesting question, for the final solution of which material is still wanting, is the extent to which these ideas prevailed in other forms in pre-Muhammadan Persia. The various ultra- Shi'ite risings of which we shall have to speak are commonly regarded, alike by the oldest and the most modern Muham- madan historians, as recrudescences of the doctrines of Mazdak, of whom we have already spoken in the chapter on the Sasanians (pp. 168-172 supra). This is probable enough, but unfortunately our knowledge of the principles on which the system of Mazdak reposed is too meagre to enable us to prove it. It is, however, the view of well-informed writers like the author of the Flhrist (pp. 342-345), who wrote in A.D. 987 ; Shahristani (pp. 193-194), who wrote in A.D. 1127; the celebrated minister of the Seljuqs, Nidhamu'1-Mulk (Siyasat- ndma, ed. Schefer, pp. 182-183), who was assassinated in A.D. 1092 by an emissary of those very Isma'ilis whom he so fiercely denounced in his book as the renovators of the heresy of Mazdak, and others ; while the modern Babis have been similarly affiliated both by the historians Lhanul-Mulk and Ridd-quli KMn in Persia, and by Lady Sheil 2 and Professor Noldeke 3 in Europe. In the Flhrist the section dealing with the movements of which we are about to speak is entitled (p. 342) " the Sect of the Khurramiyya and Mazdakiyya," these being regarded as identical with one another, and with the Muhammira (" those who made red their badge "), the
1 See my translation of the New History of . . . the Bdb (Cambridge, 1893), pp. 70, 283.
* Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (1856), p. 180.
3 In an article entitled Oricntalischer Socialismus, in vol. xviii, pp. 284- 291 of the Deutsche Rundschau (1879).
SINBADH "THE MAGI AN" 313
followers of Bibak " al-Khurrami," and, apparently, the Mudlmiyya^ or sects who believed that Abu Muslim was the Imam, or even an incarnation of the Deity, amongst whom Sinbadh the Magian and Ishdq " the Turk " (so called, we are told, not because he was of Turkish race, but because " he entered the lands of the Turks and summoned them to believe in the Apostolic Mission of Abu Muslim ") are included. Similarly of al-Muqanna' al-Birum says (op. laud., p. 194) that "he made obligatory for them (/'.*., his followers) all the laws and institutes which Mazhdak had established," while Shahristani, as we have already seen, regards the terms Mazdaki, Sinbddi, Khurrarm, Mubayyida, and Muhammira as synonymous. The Nidhamu'1-Mulk, in chap, xlv of his Siyasat-nAma (ed. Schefer, pp. 182-183, French translation, pp. 265-268 *) is more explicit. According to him, after Mazdak's execution his wife, named Khurrama, fled from Ctesiphon to Ray with two of her husband's adherents, and continued to carry on a successful propaganda in that province. The converts to her doctrine were called either Mazdakites (after her husband) or Khurramites (Khurram-dinan or Khurramiyya] after her. The sect continued to flourish in Azarbayjan, Armenia, Daylam, Hamaddn, Dinawar, Isfahdn, and Ahwdz — in other words, throughout the north and west of Persia (Fihrist, p. 342) — until the days of Abu Muslim, and was amongst the disaffected elements whose support and sympathy he succeeded in enlisting in his successful attempt to overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate. I
To the reverence and even adoration with which Abu Muslim was regarded by his followers we have sinbbeldhnthe alfeady alluded (p. 243 supra], and his murder AD^s's^se) by the Caliph al-Mansur was almost imme- diately followed by the rebellion of Sinbddh the
1 From chap, xl of this work onwards the numbers of the chapters in the translation are one ahead of those they bear in the text, two successive sections in the text (pp. 125 and 131) being called "fortieth,"
314 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
Magian,1 who had been Abu Muslim's friend and partisan — a significant fact, as showing that the great propagandist's religious views were not sufficiently intolerant to alienate from his cause even "guebres." Starting from Nishapur, his native place, with the avowed intention of avenging Abu Muslim, he soon collected a numerous following, occupied Qumis 'and Ray (where he took possession of the treasures which Abu Muslim had deposited in that city), and declared his intention of advancing on the Arabian province of the Hijaz and destroying the Ka'ba. He soon attracted to him hosts of Magians from Tabaristan and elsewhere, Mazdakites, Rafidis (Shi'ites), and " Anthropomorphists " (Mushabbiha], whom he told that Abu Muslim was not dead, but that, being threatened with death by al-Mansur, he had recited the " Most Great Name " of God, and turned himself into a white dove,2 which flew away. His armed followers are said to have numbered some 100,000 men, and if, as stated by al-Fakhri, 60,000 of these were left dead on the field when he was finally, after many successes, defeated and slain by the 'Abbasid general Jahwar b. Marrar, this can be no exaggeration. This insurrection, though formidable, was short-lived, only lasting seventy days, according to the most trustworthy accounts, though the Nidhamu'1-Mulk says seven years, which is certainly an error.
Ishdq " the Turk," whom we have already mentioned, was
another of Abu Muslim's da1 is or propagandists, who, on the
death of his master, fled into Transoxiana, and
Is&k."he taught that Abu Muslim was not dead, but con- cealed in the mountains near Ray, whence he would issue forth in the fulness of time. According to the
1 Some account of this is found in al-Fakhn (p. 203) ; Tabari iii, 119-120 ; Mas'udi's Muruju'dh Dhahab, vi, 188-189 ; al-Ya'qubi, ii, 441-442 ; Idem, Kitabu'l-Bitlddn (de Goejc's Bibl. Gcogr. Arab., vol. vii), p. 303 ; Dorn's Gesch. von Tabaristan, &c., p. 47 ; Idem, Auszuge . . . betreffend die Gesch. . . . der Sudl. Kilstenlilnder des Kaspischen Mccres, pr>. 442-444 Justi's Iranisches Xaineiibuch, pp. 314-315, article Sninbdt (Sitnfudh), § 19.
* Cf. Shahristani, op. cit., p. in, and al-Ya'qubi, ii, p. 313.
THE RAWANDIYYA 315
Fihnst (p. 345) he was a descendant of Zayd the 'Alid, and therefore presumably claimed himself to be the Imam, though he took advantage of Abu Muslim's popularity to recommend himself to his followers ; but according to another authority cited in the same work as " well informed as to the affairs of the Muslimiyya," he was a common and illiterate man of Transoxiana who had a familiar spirit which he used to consult, and who declared that Abu Muslim was a prophet sent by Zoroaster, and that Zoroaster was alive and had never died, but would reappear in due season to restore his religion. "Al-Balkhi," adds our author, "and some others call the Muslimiyya (or followers of Abu Muslim) Khurram-diniyya" ; "and," adds he, " there are amongst us in Balkh a number of them at a village called . . . ,T but they conceal themselves.'* The next manifestation of these anthropomorphic ultra- The Shi'ites took place a year or two later (A.D. Rawandiyya. 758-9 ),2 and is thus described by Dozy 3 :_
"Still more foolish were those fanatics who, inspired by Indo- Persian ideas, named their prince ' God.' So long as the victory remained doubtful the 'Abbasids had been able to tolerate this species of cult, but since they had gained the mastery they could do so no longer, for they would have aroused against themselves not only the orthodox but the whole Arab race. On the other hand they alienated the sympathy of the Persians by refusing to be God for them ; but they had to choose, and the poor Persians, who all the while meant so well, were sacrificed to the Arabs. The Rawandis (of Rawand near Isfahan 4) learned this to their cost when
1 Name uncertain ; perhaps Khtirramdbdd, a common name of Persian villages.
3 Tabari (iii, 129 el scqq. and 418) mentions the incident first recorded under the year A.H. 141 (A.D. 758-9), but adds that some place it in A.H. 136 or 137 (A.D. 753-5), while he records a similar narrative under A.H. 158 (A.D. 774-5). The last two dates are those of the accession and decease of al-Mansiir, and the narrative may simply have been recorded there by one of his authorities as a piece of undated general information about that Caliph. See also Dinawari, p. 380, and al-Fakhri, p 188.
3 L'lslamisme (transl. of V. Chauvin), pp. 241-243.
4 There were two places called Rawand, one near Kashan and Isfahan,
3i6 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESTARCHS
they came to present their homage to al-Mansur ; they called him their God, and believed that they saw in the governor of Mecca the Angel Gabriel, and in the captain of the bodyguards him into whom the soul of Adam had migrated.1 Not only was their homage rejected, but their chiefs were cast into prison.2 From this moment al-Mansur ceased in the eyes of the Rawandis to be Caliph. The ideas of legitimate prince and of God were for them two inseparable things, and if the sovereign declared himself not to be God, he could be nothing but a usurper, and ought to be deposed. This project they immediately prepared to carry out. They pro- ceeded to the prison, but to avoid exciting attention they took with them an empty bier, which they caused to be carried before them, as though they were about to bury some one. On arriving at the prison they broke down its doors, released their chiefs, and then attacked the Caliph's palace. There was an extremely critical moment, but at length troops hastened up in sufficient numbers, and the Rawandis fell beneath the blows of their swords. None the less there were thousands of people in Persia who thought a'j they did, and for whom the 'Abbasids were no longer Caliphs since they had refused to be God. Hence the reason why such as had fewer scruples in this matter found in this country a soil wherein the seed of revolt bore fruit with vigour."
The total number of these Rawandis who walked round the Caliph's palace at Hashimiyya (for Baghdad was not yet built)
crying, " This is the Palace of our Lord ! " was D°Rlwandis.the Onl7 about six hundred,3 yet the sect, as Tabari
tells us (Hi, 418), continued to exist till his own time — that is, until the beginning of the tenth century. Besides the doctrines of Incarnation and Metempsychosis, they seem to have held Mazdak's views as to the community of wives, and to have believed themselves to be possessed of miraculous powers. . Some of them, we learn, cast themselves from high
the other near Nishapiir (see de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, vol. i, p. 77). Dozy seems to be mistaken in sup- posing that the former is here meant, since Tabari (iii, 129), al-Fakhri (188), &c., speak of these Rawandis as " from Khurasan."
1 Al-Fakhri only says " a certain other man." Tabari (iii, 129) says that they supposed 'Uthman b. Nahik and al-Haytham b. Mu'awiya to be incarnations of Adam and Gabriel respectively.
* Two hundred of them were so imprisoned. 3 Tabari, iii, p. 130.
USTADHS/3
places, believing that they could fly, and were dashed to pieces. They were certainly, as Dinawari says (p. 380), connected with Abu Muslim, whose death it was one of their objects to avenge. The peril in which for a short while the life of the Caliph al-Mansur was placed for lack of a good horse led to
the institution of the farasun-nawba (Persian, ™enfwrbaasu n" asp-i-nawbati) or "sentry-horse," a good horse,
saddled, bridled, and equipped, which was hence- forth always in readiness at the Caliph's palace in case of emergency. The same institution prevailed till much later times at the Courts of local rulers — e.g., with the Sdmdnid kings in the tenth century of our era.1
In the years A.D. 766-768, still in the reign of al-Mansur, another Persian pseudo-prophet named Ustadhsis, rose in revolt
in the districts of Herdt, Badghis, and Sistdn,3 C-*jS5^*Jfc col^cted a following of 300,000 men, and caused
much trouble to the Government ere he was finally defeated by Khazim b. Khuzayma. Seventy thousand of his followers were slain, and fourteen thousand more, taken captive, were beheaded immediately after the battle. Ustddhsis shortly afterwards surrendered, was sent in chains to Baghdad, and was there put to death. Thirty thousand of his followers who surrendered with him were set at liberty. Al-Khayzurdn, the wife of al-Mahdi and mother of al-Hadi and Harunu'r- Rashid, was, according to Sir William Muir (who, however, does not give his authority), the daughter of Ustadhsis. 3 She is mentioned by ath-Tha'alibi in his Lataiful-Mcf&rif (ed. de Jong, p. 54) as one of the three women who gave birth to two Caliphs. One of the two others was likewise a Persian, namely, Shah-Parand, the grand-daughter of Yazdigird the last Sasanian king, who was married to Walid b. 'Abdu'l-
' C/. my translation of the Chahdr Mdqdla of Nidhami-i-'Arudi-i-Samar- qandi in the J. R. A. S. for 1899, p. 55 of the tirage-b-part.
' Taban, iii, 354-8 ; al-Ya'qubi, ii, 457-8. The latter writer distinctly states that he claimed to be a Prophet. 3 Op, cit., p. 459.
318 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
Malik, the Umayyad Caliph, and bore him Yazid III and
Ibrahim.
About ten years later (A.D. 777-780), at the beginning of the
reign of al-Mahdi, took place the much more serious rising of al-Muqanna', the "Veiled Prophet of Khurasan " celebrated by Moore in Lalla Rookh^ by the side of which the less known and more obscure insurrec- tion of Yusufu'l-Barm, « whose object was naught else than to exhort men to good and turn them
aside from evil," J sinks into insignificance. Of this celebrated
heresiarch al-Biruni gives the following account in his
Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's translation, p. 194 ;
text, p. 2ii) : —
" Thereupon came forward Hashim b. Hakim, known by the name
of al-Muqanna', in Merv, in a village called Kawakimardan. He
, ,, used to veil himself in green silk, because he had only
account of one eye. He maintained that he was God, and that ai-Muqanna'. ng ^a(j incarnate(j himself, since before incarnation nobody could see God. He crossed the river Oxus and went to the districts of Kash and Nasaf (Nakhshab). He entered into corre- spondence with the Khaqan, and solicited his help. The sect of the Mubayyida " and the Turks gathered round him, and the property and women (of his enemies), he delivered up to them, killing every- body who opposed him. He made obligatory for them all the laws and institutes which Mazhdak had established. He scattered the armies of al-Mahdi, and ruled during fourteen years, but finally he was besieged and killed in A.H. 169 (A.D. 785-786). Being surrounded on all sides he burned himself, that his body might be annihilated, and that, in consequence, his followers might see therein a confirma- tion of his claim to be God. He did not, however, succeed in annihilating his body ; it was found in the oven, and his head was cut off and sent to the Caliph al-Mahdi, who was then in Aleppo. There is still a sect in Transoxiana who practise his religion, but only secretly, while in public they profess Islam. The history of
1 See van Vloten's Recherches surla Domination Arabe, p. 59 ; Tabarf, iii, 470 ; al-Ya'qubi, ii, pp. 478-479.
a So called, as already explained, because of their white raiment, which won for them amongst the Persians the title, Sapid-Jdmagdn,
"THE VEILED PROPHET" 319
al-Muqanna' I have translated from the Persian into Arabic, and the subject has been exhaustively treated in my history of the Mubayyida
and Carmathians." *
r
The three things connected with al-Muqanna* which are best known and most widely celebrated are the mask of gold (or veil of green silk, according to some accounts) which he continually wore, to spare his followers the dazzling and insupportable effulgence of his countenance, as he asserted, or, as his opponents said, to conceal from them his deformed and hideous aspect ; the false moon which he caused, night after night, to rise from a well at Nakhshab (whence he is often called by the Persians Mah-s&zanda^ " the moon-maker ") ; and the final suicide of himself and his followers, by which, as it would appear, he desired not only to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies, but to make his partisans believe that he had disappeared and would return again, with which object he endeavoured to destroy his own body and those
Al-Qnzwini's . r^.r \ r \ \ /-^. ' '
account of of his companions. Ur the raise moon al-Oazwim
al- M uqanna4. *^
(who wrote during the first half of the thirteenth century of our era) speaks as follows in his dthanil-Bil&d (ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 312), under the heading Nakhshab : —
" Nakhshab. A famous city in the land of Khurasan, from which have arisen many saints and sages. With it was connected al-Hakim al-Muqanna',2 who made a well at Nakhshab whence there rose up a moon which men saw like the [real] moon. This thing became noised abroad through the horizons, and people flocked to Nakhshab to see it, and wondered greatly at it. The common folk supposed it to be magic, but it was only effected by [a knowledge of] mathematics and the reflection of the rays of the moon ; for they [afterwards] found at the bottom of the well a great bowl filled with quicksilver. Yet withal he achieved a wonderful success, which was disseminated
1 These works of al-Biruni are unfortunately lost to us.
" Ibnit'l-Muqaffa' in the text is, of course, an error for al-Muqanna'. From al-Biruni's account (cited above) it would appear that his own name was Hdshim, and his father's name Hakim, but al-Qaxwini seems to have taken the latter as a common noun in the sense of " The Sage."
$20 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
through the horizons and noised abroad until men mentioned him in their poems and proverbs, and his memory abode amongst mankind."
Ibn Khallikdn in his celebrated Biographies (translation of Baron MacGuckin de Slane, vol. ii, pp. 205-206) thus speaks of him x : —
" Al-Muqanna' al-Khurasam, whose real name was 'Ata, but whose father's name is unknown to me (though it is said to have been Ibn Khaiiikan's Hakim), began his life as a fuller at Merv. Having
aM°untof- ac(luired some knowledge of Magic and Incantations, he pretended to be an Incarnation of the Deity, which had passed into him by Metempsychosis, and he said to his partisans and followers : ' Almighty God entered into the figure of Adam ; for which reason He bade the angels adore Adam, " and they adored Him, except Iblis, who proudly refused,"2 whereby he justly merited the Divine Wrath. Then from Adam He passed into the form of Noah, and from Noah into the forms of each of the prophets and sages successively, until He appeared in the form of Abu Muslim al-Khurasani (already mentioned), from whom He passed into me.' His pretensions having obtained credence with some people, they adored him and took up arms in his defence, notwithstanding what they beheld as to the extravagance of his claims and the hideousness of his aspect ; for he was ill-made, one-eyed, short in stature [and a stutterer], and never uncovered his face, but veiled it with a mask of gold, from which circumstance he received his appellation of ' the Veiled ' (al-Muqanna'). The influence which he exercised over the minds of his followers was acquired by the delusive miracles which he wrought in their sight by means of magic and incantations. One of the deceptions which he exhibited to them was the image of a moon, which rose so as to be visible to the distance of a two months' journey, after which it set ; whereby their belief in him was greatly increased. It is to this moon that Abu'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri alludes in the following line : —
"'Awake [from the delusions of love] ! That full moon x whose head
is shrouded in a veil Is only a snare and a delusion, like the Moon of al-Muqanna' J'
1 For the text of this passage, see Wustenfeld's ed., Biography No. 431. • Qur'an ii. 31.
"THE VEILED PROPHET" 321
"This verse forms part of a long qasida. To it also alludes Abu'l- Qasim Hibatu'llah b. Sina'u'1-Mulk (a poet of whom we shall speak presently) in the course of a qasida wherein he says : —
"'Beware! For the Moon of al-Muqanna' does not rise More fraught with magic than my turbaned moon ! ' *
" When the doings of al-Muqanna' became notorious, and his fame was spread abroad, the people rose up against him and attacked him in his castle wherein he had taken refuge, and besieged him there. Perceiving that death was inevitable, he assembled his women and gave them a poisoned drink, whereby they died ; after which he swallowed a draught of the same liquor and expired. On entering the castle, the Muslims put all his partisans and followers to the sword. This happened in the year A.H. 163 (A.D. 779-780) : may God's curse rest upon him, and with God do we take refuge from such deceptions ! — I never found the name or the situation of this castle mentioned by any person, that I might record it, until at last I read it in the Kitdbu'sh-Shubuhdt of Yaqutu'l-Hamawi (who will be mentioned presently, if God please), which he wrote to differentiate those places which participate in the same name.2 He there says, in the section devoted to Sandm, that there are four places of this name, whereof the fourth is the Castle of Sanam constructed by al-Muqanna' the Kharijite [i.e., the heretic rebel] in Transoxiana. God knows best, but it would appear that this is the castle in question. — I have since found in the History of Khurasan that it is the very one, and that it is situated in the district of Kashsh ; 3 but God knows best ! "
Ibnu'l-Athir in his great chronicle (Cairo od., vol. vi, pp.
13-14 and 17—18, under the years A.H. 159 and 161) confirms
*
1 I.e., the beautiful face, surmounted by a turban, of my beloved.
2 This work, properly entitled Kitdbu'l-Mushtarik, or " Lexicon of geographical homonyms," was published by Wiistenfeld at Gottingen in 1846. The passage to which allusion is here made occurs on p. 254. Shaykh Shihabu 'd Din Abu 'Abdi'llah Ydqut al-Hamawi, the last great Muslim geographer, was of Greek origin. He was born about A.D. 1178, and died about 1229.
3 This is confirmed by al-Ya'qubi in his Kitdbu'l-Bulddn (Bibl. Geogr. Arab., vol. vii, p. 304). It is there stated that al-Muqanna' and his followers, when hard pressed by the besiegers, " drank poison, and ajl died together." See also Tabari, iii, 484 and 494.
22
322 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
most of the above particulars. According to him al-Muqanna*
was named Hakim, and only made known his pretensions to
be a Divine Incarnation to a select circle of his
ibnui-Athir's followers, declaring that from Abu Muslim the
narrative. * o
Divinity had passed into Hashim, by which name he intended himself, so that the war-cry of his followers was, "O Hashim, help us!" (" Ya Hashim, alin-n& /"). He was supported by the Mubayyida, or " White-clad " heretics, in Sughd and Bukhara, and also by many of the pagan Turks. He held Abu Muslim to be superior to the Prophet, and one of his avowed objects was to avenge the death of Yahyd b. Zayd, a great-grandson of al-Husayn, who was killed in A.D. 742-3 The number of his followers who deserted him at the last, on a promise of quarter from Sa'id al-Harashi, the general in command of the beleaguering forces, is stated at 30,000, while those who remained with him were about 2,000.
" When he saw that death was inevitable," says Ibnu'l-Athir (who is followed by al-Fakhri), " he assembled his women and his family, and gave them poison to drink, and commanded that his own body should be burned with fire, that none [of his enemies] might obtain possession of it. Others say that he burned all that was in his castle, including beasts and clothing and the like, after which he said, ' Let him who desires to ascend with me into heaven cast himself with me into this fire.' So he cast himself into it, with his family, and his women, and his chosen companions, and they were burned, so that when the army entered the Castle, they found it empty and void. This was one of the circumstances which added to the delusion of such as remained of his followers, of whom are they who are called the Mubayyida in Transoxiana, save that they conceal their belief. But some say that he, too, drank poison and died, and that al-Harashi sent his head to al-Mahdi, and that it reached him when he was at
Aleppo on one of his campaigns in A.H. 163 ( = A.D. 779- Durat£ct°f l 6 78o)." These Mubayyida, or followers of al-Muqanna',
seem to have continued to exist until the eleventh century.1 Abu'l-Faraj (Bar-Hebraeus),2 who flourished in the thir-
1 They are spoken of by Shaykh Abu'l-Mudhaffar Tahir al-Isfara'ini (t A.D. 1078-9) as existing in his time. See Haarbriicker's translation of Shahristani's Kitdbu'l-Milal, pp. 378 and 409.
• Beyrout ed. of 1890, pp. 217-218.
BABAK AL-KHURRAMf 323
teenth century of our era (A.D. 1226-1286), adds that al-Muqanna, ...... , "had promised his followers that his spirit would
Additional par-
ticulars given by pass into the form of a grizzle- headed man riding on Bar-HeBraeus. .
horse>. and that he wouid return unto them after so many years, and cause them to possess the earth."
Our information as to the details of the doctrines held by
the heresiarchs mentioned above is lamentably defective, but all
that we know confirms the statement of Shah-
KhurramL ristam (already cited) 2 as to the essential identity of the sects which were called after Mazdalc, Sinbadh, and al-Muqanna4, and which were also denoted by the name Khurramiyya^ Mubayyida, and Muhammira. Under one of these names (or the Persian equivalent of the last, Surkh lAlam^ " Red Standards ") we find risings of these schismatics chronicled in A.D. 778-9 (Tab. iii, 493 ; Din. 382 ; Siydsat-nAma pp. 199-200); in A.D. 796-7 (Tab. iii, 645); and in A.D. 808 (Tab. iii, 732 ; Din. 387). The next great heresiarch, however, appeared in the reign of al-Ma'mun. This was Babak, called al-Khurrami, who is first mentioned by Tabari under the year A.M. 201 (A.D. 816-817), and who for more than twenty years (till A.D. 838) was the terror of Western and North- Western Persia, defeating in turn Yahya b. Ma'adh, clsa b. Muhammad, Muhammad b. Humayd of Tiis, and other generals sent against him, and was only at last con- quered and captured with much difficulty, through cunning stratagems, by the celebrated Afshin. Of these wars full accounts are given by all the principal Muhammadan historians, especially Tabari ;3 but of Babak's private life, character and
f Cj. what is said on p. 309 supra as to the expected return of Bih-afaridh.
a See Haarbriicker's translation, p. 200 ; Cureton's text, p. 132 ; Schefer's Chrestomathie Persane, vol i, p. 177 ; the Nidhamu'l-Mulk's Siydsat- ndma (ed. Schefer), p. 199.
3 See particularly Tabari, iii, pp. 1015, 1039, 1044, 1045, 1099, nor, 1165, 1170-1179, 1186-1235, and, for Afshin's fall and death,i3o8-i3i4 ; Dinawari, PP- 397-401 5 Baladhuri, pp. 329-330 and 340 ; Ya'qubi, pp. 563-565. 575, 577-579. and for Afshin, 582-584 ; the Fihrist, pp. 342-3-14 ; Qazwini's
324 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
doctrine the most detailed information is contained in the following passage of the Fihrist (pp. 342-344), the author of which wrote about A.D. 987, a hundred and fifty years after Babak's death. After speaking of the Khurramis and Mazdakis, this writer passes to the Babaki Khurramis, concerning whom he says : —
"Now as for the Babaki Khurramis, their founder was Babak
al-Khurrami, who used to say to such as he desired to lead into
error that he was God, and who introduced into the
Account of Babak ,,. , , . ' , . . ,
in the Fihrist. Khurrami sects murder, rapine, wars and cruel punish- ments, hitherto unknown to them.
" Cause of the origin of his pretensions, his rebellion, his wars and his execution.
"Says Waqid b. 'Amr at-Tamimi, who compiled the history of Babak : ' His father was an oil-seller of al-Mada'in (Ctesiphon) who emigrated to the frontiers of Adharbayjan and settled in a village called Bilal-abadh, in the district of Maymadh.1 He used to carry his oil in a vessel on his back, and wander through the villages in the district. He conceived a passion for a one-eyed woman, who afterwards became the mother of Babak, and with her he cohabited for a long while. "And while she and he were [on one occasion] away from the village, enjoying one another's company in a glade, and devoting themselves to wine which they had with them, behold, there came women from the village to draw water from a fountain in that glade, and they heard the sound of a voice singing in the Nabathaean tongue. They made in that direction and fell upon the two of them. 'Abdullah fled, but they seized Babak's mother by the hair, brought her to the village, and exposed her to contumely there.'
" Says Waqid : ' Then this oil-seller petitioned her father, and he gave her to him in marriage, and she bore him Babak. Then he
Athdru'l-Bildd, 213, 344 ; Siyrisat-ndma, pp. 200-203 • Ibn Khallikan (de Slane's translation), vol. iii, p. 276 ; Ibn Qutayba's KUdbu't~Ma'4nf, p. 198 ; de Goeje's Bibl. Geogr. Arab, i, 203 ; vi, 121 ; v, 52, 284-285, 307, 309* vii, 259, 272 ; viii, 88, 170, 352-353 ; Mas'udi's Muruju' dh-Dhahab (ed. B. de Meynard), vi, 187 ; vii, 62, 123-132, 138-139, &c.
1 In the district of Ardabil and Arrajan. See B. de Meynard's Diet, de la Perse, p. 557.
BABAK AL-KHURRAMf* 325
went forth in one of his journeys to the Mountain of Sabalan,* where there fell upon him one who smote him from behind and wounded him so that he died after a little while. And Babak's mother began to act as a professional wet-nurse for wages till such time as he re'ached the age of ten years. It is said that she went forth one day to seek Babak, who was pasturing the cattle of a certain tribe, and found him lying naked under a tree, taking his noontide sleep ; and that she saw under each hair on his breast and head a drop of blood. Then he woke up suddenly from his sleep, and stood erect, and the blood which she had seen passed away and she found it not. " Then," said she, " I knew that my son was destined for some glorious mission." '
" Says Waqid : ' And again Babak was with ash-Shibl ibnu'1-Mu- naqqa al-Azdi in the district of Sara,* looking after his cattle, and from his hirelings he learned to play the drum. Then he went to Tabriz in Adharbayjan, where he- was for about two years in the service of Muhammad ibnu'r-Rawwad al-Azdi. Then he returned to his mother, being at that time about eighteen years of age, and abode with her.'
" Says Waqid b. 'Amr : ' Now there were in the mountain of al-Badhdh 3 and the hills connected therewith two men of the bar- barians 4 holding the Khurrami doctrine, possessed of wealth and riches, who disputed as to which should hold sway over the Khurramis inhabiting these hills, that the supremacy might belong exclusively to one of them. One was named Jawidan the son of Suhrak,5 while the other was better known by his kunya of Abu 'Imran ; and there was continual war between them during the summer, while in winter-time the snow kept them apart by closing the passes. Now Jawidan, who was Babak's master, went forth from his city with two thousand sheep, which he intended to bring into the town of Zanjan, one of the towns in the marches of Qazwin. So he entered it, sold his sheep, and turned back to the mountain of al-Badhdh, where, being overtaken by the snow and the night in the district of Mimad,6 he turned aside to the village of Bilalabadh,
1 A high mountain, covered with perpetual snow, near Ardabil. See Diet, de la Perse, p. 300. a Or Sardw, in Adharbayjan. See Bibl. Geogr. Arab., vii, 271, last line.
3 This was, till the last, Babak's great and chiefest stronghold.
4 Probably Persians. The arrogance of the Arabs impelled them, like the Greeks, to regard all foreigners as barbarous folk.
s Concerning this name, see Justi's Iranisches Namenbuch, p. 292. * See Barbier de Meynard's Diet, de la Perse, p. 557.
326 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
where he sought hospitality from the jazir ' of the place, who, holding Jawidan in light esteem, passed him on to the mother of Babak, bidding her entertain him. And she, by reason of poverty and straitened means, had no food [to set before him], wherefore she rose up and kindled a fire, being unable to do more than this [for his entertainment], while Babak waited upon his servants and beasts, and tended them, and gave them water to drink. And Jawidan sent him out to buy for him food and wine and fodder, and when he brought him these things, he conversed and talked with him, and found him, nothwithstanding his detestable character, and though his tongue was cramped by outlandish speech, of good understanding, and saw him to be a cunning rogue. So he said to Bibak's mother, " Oh woman, I am a man from the mountain of al-Badhdh, where I enjoy consideration and opulence, and I need [the services of] this thy son, wherefore give him to me, that I may take him with me, and make him my agent over my farms and estates, and I will send thee his wages, fifty dirhams every month." She replied, "Thou seemest well-intentioned, and the signs of opulence are apparent in thee, and my heart feels confidence in thee ; take him with thee, therefore, when thou departest."
"' Then Abu 'Imran came down from his mountain against Jawi- dan, and fought with him, but was routed and slain by him. And Jawi- dan returned unto his mountain, bearing a wound which caused him anxiety, and abode in his house three days, and then died. Now his wife had conceived a passion for Babak, who had yielded to her guilty desires, and so, when Jawidan died, she said to him, " Verily thou art strong and cunning ; Jawidan is dead, and I have not men- tioned this to any one of his followers. Prepare thyself for to-morrow, when I will assemble them before thee, and will inform them that Jawidan said : ' I desire to die this night, and that my spirit should go forth from my body, and enter into the body of Bibak, and associate itself with his spirit. Verily he will accomplish for himself and for you a thing which none hath heretofore accomplished and which none shall hereafter accomplish ; for verily he shall take poses- sion of the earth, and shall slay the tyrants, and shall restore the Mazdakites, and by him shall the lowest of you become mighty, and the meanest of you be exalted.' " And Babak's ambition was aroused by what she said, and he rejoiced thereat, and prepared himself to undertake it.
1 According to the Muhitu'l-Mnhit this word has in 'Iraq the special signification of one chosen by his fellow-villagers to entertain official guests quartered on the village.
BABAK AL-KHURRAMf 327
" ' So when it was morning, she assembled before her the army of Jawidan, and they said, " How is it that he doth not summon us and give us his instructions ? " She answered, " Naught prevented him from so doing save that ye were scattered abroad in your homes in the villages, and that, had he sent to assemble you, tidings of this would have been spread abroad ; wherefore he, fearing the malice of the Arabs towards you, laid upon me that which I now convey to you, if ye will accept it and act in accordance with it." " Tell us," they answered, " what were the wishes he expressed to thee, for verily we never opposed his commands during his life, nor will we oppose them now that he is dead." "He said to me," she replied, " ' Verily I shall die this night, and my spirit will go forth from my body, and will enter into the body of this lad, my servant, and I purpose to set him in authority over my followers, wherefore, when I am dead, make known to them this thing, and that there is no true religion in him who opposeth me herein, or who chooseth for him- self the contrary of what I have chosen.' " They answered, " We accept his testament to thee in respect to this lad."
" ' Then she called for a cow, and commanded that it should be slain and flayed, and that its skin should be spread out, and on the skin she placed a bowl filled with wine, and into it she broke bread, which she placed round about the bowl. Then she called them, man by man, and bade each of them tread the skin with his foot, and take a piece of bread, plunge it in the wine, and eat it, saying, " I believe in thee, O Spirit of Babak, as I believe in the spirit of Jawidan ; " and that each should then take the hand of Babak, and do obeisance before it, and kiss it. And they did so, until such time as food was made ready for her ; then she brought forth food and wine to them, and seated Babak on her •bed, and sat beside him publicly before them. And when they had drunk three draughts each, she took a sprig of basil and offered it to Babak, and he took it from her hand, and this was their marriage. Then [their followers] came forth and did obeisance to the two of them, acknowledging the marriage. . . .' "
Doctrines of The most important statements contained in ^9 */Mf& Babak. t^e above narrative as to Babalc's doctrines are : — f ***
(1) That he declared himself to be God, or at least a Divine Theophany.
(2) That he declared that the soul of his master Jdwfdan had passed into him.1 He thus held two at least, and probably
1 This is confirmed by Tabari, iii, 1015.
328 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
three, of the four doctrines (hulul^ or the passing of God into human form ; tandsukh, or the passing of the soul from one body to another ; and rijlat, or the return of a departed soul in a new tabernacle of flesh) regarded by Shahristdnf (see p. 311 supra^zs characteristic of all sects of the Ghuldtor "immoderate" Shi'ites. Whether Babak was of pure Persian extraction is doubtful, for the Fihrist represents his father as singing songs in the Nabathaean language, while Dmawari (p. 397) expresses the opinion I that he was one of the sons of Mutahhar the son of Fdtima the daughter of Abu Muslim. The Nidhdmu'l- Mulk mentions in his Siydsat-ndma (ed. Schefer, p. 204) that the Khurramls in their secret gatherings used first to call down blessings on Abu Muslim, the Mahdi, and Ffruz, the son of the above-mentioned Fdtima, whom they called " the Wise Child" (Klidak-i-Ddnd)^ and who may perhaps be identical with Babak's father Mutahhar. It also appears that Babak in the main merely perpetuated doctrines already taught by his master J&widdn (whose followers are called by Tabarl, iii, 1015, al-ydwiddniyya}) only adding to them, in the words of the Fihrist above cited, " murder, rapine, wars, and cruel punishments, hitherto unknown to them." He certainly seems to have been of a bloodthirsty disposition, for according to Tabarl (iii, p. 1233) he slew in twenty years 255,500 persons, while Mas'udi (Kitdbut-tanbih^ p. 353) estimates the number of his victims as " 500,000 at the lowest computation." As regards his relation to the other sects which we have mentioned, he was, as the Fihrist tells us, " to restore the doctrines of the Mazdakites ; " and we find (Siydsat-ndma, p. 20 1 ) one of his generals bearing the name of 'AH Mazdak. He is generally called at-Khurraml, a title which the Fihrist also applies to Jawlddn and his rival Abu 'Imrdn, and which, according to the Siydsat-ndma (p. 1 82) was simply synonymous with Mazdakite. His followers are commonly spoken of as
1 Babak's pedigree was, however, very uncertain. Cf. Tabari, iii, p, 1232.
EXECUTION OF BABAK 329
the Khurramis, but sometimes (<?.£., Tabari, iii, 1235, where they are described as fighting for Theophilus against the Muslims) as at-Muhammira, " the Wearers of Red."
It is unnecessary for our purpose to recount the long wars of Bdbak against the Muslims, or to enumerate his many and
brilliant successes. Suffice it to say that, after
iHbakUand tos enjoying complete impunity for twenty-two years
'Abduitlh (A-H- 201-222 or 223, A.D. 816-838), he was
ultimately defeated and taken captive by Afshm, sent to Surra-man-ra'a, and there put to death before the Caliph al-Mu'tasim. His body was crucified there on a spot called al^Aqaba (" the Hill "), still famous for this in Tabari's time (iii, 1231), while his head was sent to Khurdsan. His brother 'Abdu'llah was sent in the custody of Ibn Sharwln at-Tabarf to Baghdad, where he suffered a like fate. On the way thither the prisoner was lodged in the Castle of Baraddn. " Who art thou \ " he inquired of his custodian. " The son of Sharwln, Prince of Tabaristdn," replied the other. " Praise be to God ! " exclaimed Bdbak's brother, " that He hath vouchsafed to me one of the dihqdns (Persian landed gentry) to superintend my execution ! " Ibn Sharwln pointed to Nudnud, Bdbak's executioner, and said, " It is he only who will superintend thy execution." " Thou art my man," said 'Abdu'llah, turning towards him, " and this other is only a barbarian. Tell me now, wert thou bidden to give me anything to eat, or not I " " Tell me what you would like," replied the executioner. " Make for me," said 'Abdu'llah, " some sweet wheaten porridge (fdliidhaj}" Having eaten heartily of this nocturnal meal, he said, " O So-and-so, to-morrow thou shalt know that I am a dihqdn (i.e., a Persian gentleman of the old stock), if it please God." Then he asked for some date-wine, which was also given to him, and which he drank slowly and deliberately, till it was near morning, when the journey was continued to Baghdad. When they reached the head of the Bridge, the Governor,
330 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
Ishaq b. Ibrahim, ordered 'Abdu'llah's hands and feet to be cut off, during which he uttered no sound and spoke no word. Then he was crucified on the eastern side of the river, between the two bridges. Yet was he not mocked to the same degree as Babak, who was brought forth mounted on an elephant, clad in a robe of brocade, and crowned with a round qalamuwa^ or Persian cap, of marten-skin.
About a year later (September, A.D. 840) the body or
Mdzyar, the rebel prince of Tabaristan, was
Mlzyl^who^s gibbeted beside that of Babak, concerning which
«ibb|t|^eside pitiable spectacle the poet Abu Tammdm (t A.D.
845-6) has the following verses J : —
" The fever of my heart was cooled when Bdbak became the neigh-
bour of Mdzydr ; He now makes the second with him under the vault of heaven;
but he was not like, ' the second of two, when they were
both in the Cave.' " They seem to stand aside that they may conceal some news from
the curious inquirer. Their raiment is black, and the hands of the Samitm3 might be
supposed to have woven for them a vest of pitch. Morning and evening they ride on slender steeds, brought out fot
them from the stables of the carpenters. They stir not from their place, and yet the spectator might suppose
them to be always on a journey."
With them was soon associated a third, no less than Afshm \
himself, the conqueror of Bdbak, the secret abettor of Mazyar I
Execution of m h's revolt against 'Abdu'llah b. Tahir, the •»
Caliph's governor of Khurasan. He too, though formerly one of the Caliph's chief generals and favourite courtiers, was not less Persian by birth and sympathy than the
1 Cited by Ibn Khallikan, ed. Wustenfeld, No. 709; de Slane's trans., vol. iii, p. 276, which version is here given.
a Allusion is made to the prophet and Abu Bakr in the Cave of Thawr. See Qur'an ix, 40.
3 The burning poisonous wind of the desert, commonly called Simoom.
THE TRIAL OF AFSH/N 331
two others who bore him company at that grim trysting-place.1 Of his trial a very interesting account is given by Tabari (iii, pp. 1308-1313), which is significant as showing how thin a veneer of IslAm sufficed for a high officer of the Commander of the Faithful (until he fell into disgrace for purely political reasons) at this period. The substance of this narrative, which is on the authority of an eye-witness, H&run b. *Isa h. Mansur, is as follows : —
Amongst those present at the trial were Ahmad b. Abi
Du'ad, Ishdq b. Ibrahim b. Mus'ab, Muhammad b. 'Abdu'l-
Malik az-Zayyat, who acted as prosecutor,
Trial of Afshin. }J . «v , -j „,
Mazyar (who had turned " King s evidence, but, as we have already seen, with no benefit to himself), the Mubadh, or high-priest of the Magians, a prince of Sughd, and two men from the same province clad in tatters. These two last were first examined. They uncovered their backs, which
were seen to be raw from scourging. " Knowest
Fi^ourafi?e ofhe t^lou t^lese men?" inquired Ibnu'z-Zayyat ot
icoSsm.' Afshin. " Yes," replied he : " this one is a
muadhdhin, and that one an im&m ; they built a mosque at Ushrusna, and I inflicted on each of them a thousand stripes, because I had covenanted with the princes of Sughd that I would leave all men unmolested in the religion which they professed, and these two fell upon a temple wherein were idols worshipped by some of the people of Ushrusna, cast them forth, and made the place into a mosque ; wherefore I punished each of them with a thousand stripes, because they had acted aggressively and hindered the people in their worship."
1 See especially, as illustrating his hatred of the Arabs, pp. 199-207 of the Tdrikh-i-Bayhaqi (Calcutta, 1862), and the translation of this remarkable passage given by Kazimirski at pp. 149-154 of his edition of the Diwan of Mamichihri (Paris, 1886), and cf. de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan, vol. i, p. 63, and p. 72, n. 9, where, on the authority of Ibn Shakir, Afshin is said to have been descended from the old Persian kings, an assertion confirmed by Bayhaqi (of. cit., p. 203, 11. 1-2 «= Ka/imirski, op. cit.t p. 151, last five lines).
333 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
Ibnu'z-Zayyat then passed to another count. "What,"
inquired he, " is a book in thy possession which thou hast
adorned with gold, jewels and brocade, and which
•.Second charge : ^* - * " T . , . . ~ ^ Vv« ,, t •
the possession of contains blasphemies against Lrod I " It is a book," replied Afshin, " which I inherited from my father, and which contains some of the wisdom of the Persians ; and as for its alleged blasphemies, I profit by its literary merit and ignore the rest. And I received it thus sumptuously adorned, nor did need arise to compel me to strip it of its ornaments, so I left it as it was, just as you have the Book of Ka/i/a and Dimna and the Book of Afazdak * in your house, nor did I deem this incompatible with my profession of Islam."
Then the Magian priest came forward and said, "This man was in the habit of eating the flesh of animals killed by
Third charge • strangulation, and used to persuade me to eat it, fleshofstgra°ngied pretending that it was more tender than the flesh ^Te^saToV116 of beasts slain with the knife. Moreover, he used
circumcision. everv Wednesday to slay a black sheep, cutting it in two with his sword, and then passing between the two pieces, and afterwards eating its flesh. And one day he said to me, *I have become one of these people [/'.*., the Arabs] in everything which I detest, even unto the eating of oil, and the riding of camels, and the wearing of sandals, but to this day not a hair hath fallen from me,' meaning that he had never used depilatories, nor submitted to circumcision." " Tell me," said Afshin, " whether this fellow, who speaketh in this fashion, is worthy of credence in his religion." Now the Mubad was a Magian who afterwards embraced Isldm in the reign of al-Mutawakkil, one of whose intimates he became ; so they answered, " No." " Then," said Afshin,
1 This book, as Noldeke has remarked (Gesch. d. Sasaniden, p. 461, n. 2 ad calc.), " which Ibnu'-l-Muqaffa' translated [into Arabic], and Aban al- Lahiqi re-edited, no doubt in metrical form (Fihrist, pp. 118 and 163), was not religious, but was a work designed merely to amuse, classed with the Book of Kalila and Dimna, and regarded as harmless for a Muslim."
THE TRIAL OF AFSHfN 333
" what means your acceptance of the testimony of one in whom you have no reliance, and whom you do not regard as trustworthy ? " Then he turned to the Mubad and said, " Was there a door or a window between my house and thine through which thou could'st observe me and have knowledge of my doings ? " " No," answered the Mubad. " Was I not wont," continued Afshfn, "to oring thee in unto myself, and to tell thee my secrets, and to talk with thee on Persian matters, and of my love for the things and the people of Persia ? " " Yes," replied the Mubad. " Then," said Afshfn, " thou art neither true in thy religious professions, nor generous in thy friendship, since thou hast brought up against me in public matters which I confided to thee in secret."
The Marzubdn of Sughd was next brought forward, and Afshfn was asked if he knew him, to which he replied in the
negative. Then they asked the Marzuban
thf acting ' whether he knew Afshfn, to which he answered
people"^ divine that he did, and, turning to the accused, cried,
" O trickster, how long wilt thou defend thyself and strive to gloss over the truth ? " " What sayest thou, O long-beard ? " answered Afshfn. " How do thy subjects write to thee ? " continued the other. " As they used to write to my father and grandfather," replied Afshfn. " Tell us how they address you," pursued the Marzuban. "I will not," said Afshfn. " Do they not in their letters address thee as So-and- so and So-and-so in the language of Ushrusna ? " demanded the other, "and does this not signify in Arabic, * to the God of gods^ from his servant So-and-so the son of So-and-so ? ' " Yes, they do," answered Afshfn. " Do Muslims suffer themselves to be addressed thus ? " cried Ibnu'z-Zayyat ; " what, then, hast thou left for Pharaoh, when he said to his people, * / am your Lord the Supreme ?'"* " This," said Afshfn, " was the custom of the people in respect to my father, my grandfather, 1 Qur'an, Ixxix, 24.
334 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
and myself, ere I adopted Islam j and I was unwilling to lower myself in their eyes, lest their allegiance to me should be weakened." " Out upon thee, O Haydar ! " exclaimed Ishaq b. Ibrdhim b. Mus'ab ; " how dost thou swear to us by God, and we give thee credence, and accept thine oath, and treat thee as a Muslim, whilst thou makest such pretensions as Pharaoh made ? " " O Abu'l-ljtusayn ! " replied Afshm, " this passage was cited by 'Ujayf against 'AH b. Hishdm, and now thou citest it against me ! See who will cite it against thee to-morrow ! "
Then Mazyar, the Ispahbad of Tabaristdn, was brought forward, and Afshin was asked, " Knowest thou this man ? " " No," he answered. Then Mdzyar was asked sSyS:ngf whether he knew Afshin, to which he replied in the affirmative. "This," said they to Afshfn, "is Mazyar." "Yes," said Afshin, "I recog- nise him now." " Hast thou corresponded with him ?" they inquired. "No," said Afshin. " Has he written to you ? " they demanded of Mazydr. " Yes," he replied, "his brother Khash wrote to my brother Quhydr, saying, c None can cause this Most Luminous Religion * to prevail save I, and thou, and Babak. As for Babak, he hath caused his own death by his folly, and, though I strove to avert death from him, his own folly would not brook intervention until it cast him into the catastrophe which befell him. If thou dost revolt, the people [*.*., the Arabs] have none but me to send against thee, and with me are the knights, and the valiant and brave ; so that if I be sent against thee, there remain to do battle with us only three sorts of men, the Arabs, the Moors, a and trie Turks. The Arab is like a dog ; I will throw him a crust, and then smash his head with a mace. And these
1 I presume that the religion of Zoroaster is intended, or else the doctrine of Mazdak as revived by Babak.
3 Or Maghribis (pi. Maghdriba), i.e., Arabs and Berbers from N. and N.W. Africa.
THE TRIAL OF AFSHiN 335
flies ' (meaning the Moors) l are but few in numbers ; * while as for these sons of devils' (meaning the Turks), ' it needs but a short while to exhaust their arrows, after which the cavalry will surround them in a single charge and destroy them all, and religion will return to what it ever was in the days of the Persians.' " 2
To this Afshfn replied, " This man brings against his brother and my brother charges which do not affect me. And even had I written this letter to him, that I might incline him to myself, and that he might regard my approach with equanimity, there would be nothing objectionable therein ; for since I helped the Caliph with my hands, I had the better right to help him by my wits, that I might take his enemy unawares and bring him before him, that I might thereby be honoured in my master's eyes even as 'Abdu'llah b. Tahir thus won honour."
Some further details of the trial are given, especially Afshfn's attempt to defend himself for his neglect to undergo the rite of circumcision ("wherein," said Ibn AW Du'dd, "is the whole of Islam and of legal purity "), on the ground that he feared harm to his health from the operation. His excuses were scouted : was it possible that a soldier, constantly exposed to lance-thrust and sword-blow, should be afraid of this ? Afshm saw that he was doomed, and, in the bitterness of his heart, exclaimed to Ibn AW Du'ad, "O Abu 'Abdi'llah, thou raisest up thy hood (taylasdn} with thy hand, and dost not suffer it to fall on thy shoulder until thou hast slain thereby a multitude." 3 " It hath become apparent to you," said
1 Literally, "are eaters of a head," meaning, "they are few ; one head satisfying their stomachs." See Lane's Arabic Lexicon, Bk. i, Part i, p. 73.
3 It seems quite clear from all this that Afshin, though from Trans- oxiana, was not, as has been sometimes alleged, a Turk, but wholly Persian in feeling and sympathy.
3 Meaning that he was what we should call " a hanging judge." The faylasdn, says Lane in his Lexicon (Bk. i, Part 5, p. 1867, s.v.), "seems to have resembled our academic hood, of which it was perhaps the original." It was worn by men of learning, doctors of Theology, Law, Medicine, and the like.
336 THE GREAT PERSIAN HERESIARCHS
Ibn Abf Du'ad, addressing the audience, " what he is " ; then to Bugha the Turk (called " the Elder "), " Away with him ! " Thereupon Bughd seized Afshm by the girdle, and, as he cried out, " This is what I expected from you ! " cast the skirt of his robe over his head, and, half throttling him, dragged Jiim back to his prison. The Caliph al-Mu'tasim, disregarding his piteous appeal for clemency, caused him to be slowly starved to death, after attempting, as it would appear, to poison him in some fruit which he sent to him by the hand of his son Harun, who afterwards succeeded to the Caliphate under the title al-Wathiq bi'llah. J The body, crucified for a while between Babak and Mazydr, as already described, was afterwards burned, and its ashes cast into the Tigris. In Afshm's house were found, besides sundry idols set with jewels, many books of the religion to which he was secretly attached, including a " Magian book " called Zardwa. His death took place in June, A.D. 841, so that he must have languished in prison for nine months after his trial and the execution of Mazyar.
It was the policy of the early 'Abbasids, and of al-Ma'mun in particular, 2 to exalt the Persians at the expense of the Arabs ; and in this chapter we have examined some of the more open and undisguised manifestations of the old Persian racial and religious spirit — actual attempts to destroy the supremacy of the Arabs and of Islam, and to restore the power of the ancient rulers and teachers of Persia. 3 Such aspirations after an irrevocable past may be said, in a certain sense, to have been crucified on the three gibbets at Surra man-ra'a ; and yet so strongly did these Persianising ideas, which they represented in their different ways, continue to work, that, in the words of Abu Tammam already quoted (p. 330 supra], "the spectator might suppose them to be always on a journey."
1 See the interesting narrative of Hamdun b. Isma'il given by Tabari (iii, pp. 1314-1318).
a His reasons for mistrusting the Arabs are clearly set forth in Tabari, iii, p. 1142.
3 Cf. Goldziher's luminous chapter on the Shu'ubiyya, or " Gentile Fac- tion," in his Muhammedanische Studien, pp. 147 et scqq., especially p. 150.
BOOK IV
ON THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE, FROM THE ACCESSION OF AL-MUTA WAKKIL TO THE ACCES- SION OF SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNA
(A.D. 850-1000)
CHAPTER X
THE GENERAL PHENOMENA OF THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE (A.D. 847-1000), FROM THE ACCESSION OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL TO THE ACCESSION OF MAHMUD OF GHAZNA.
THE period which we have now to consider is one which, though politically far less brilliant than the last, is in many respects quite as interesting. The sudden rever- chJact'eristics. s'on from the broad and tolerant spirit of al-Ma'mun and his successors to a narrow and bigoted ortho- doxy seems to have encouraged rather than repressed the development of several most remarkable religious and philo- sophical movements, notably amongst the former the Car- mathian or Isma'fli propaganda which culminated in the establishment of the Fdtimide Anti-Caliphate of North Africa and Egypt, and amongst the latter the philosophical fraternity known as the Ikhw&nits Safd or " Brethren of Purity." The growing paralysis of the Court of Baghdad, primarily caused by the ever-increasing lawlessness and tyranny of the Turkish " Praetorian Guard," wherewith, in an evil moment, the Caliphs had surrounded themselves, led directly to the formation in most parts of the Muhammadan Empire, notably in Persia, of practically independent or semi- independent dynasties, whose courts often became foci for learning and literature, more apt in many ways to discover
339
340 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
and stimulate local talent than a distant and unsympathetic metropolis. And withal the disadvantages of the greater decentralisation which characterises later epochs were not yet apparent : Arabic still remained the language of diplomacy, science, and culture throughout die vast domains of which Baghdad was still the intellectual, and, to a large extent, the political centre ; and communications, both material and spiritual, were sufficiently unimpeded to allow of the free interchange of ideas, so that men of learning passed readily from one centre of culture to another, and theories propounded in Spain and Morocco were soon discussed in Khurasan and Transoxiana.
From our special point of view, moreover, this period is
of particular interest, since it gave birth to what we ordinarily
understand -by Persian literature, that is the post-
iiterat°ure d"'f "g Muhammadan literature of Persia. Wehave already
this period. . 1-1 / n
spoken in an earlier chapter (pp. 11-18 supra] of the slender evidences which can be adduced of the existence of neo-Persian (as opposed to Pahlawl) writings of an earlier date, and have seen that while it is likely enough that occasional memoranda, or even small manuals, may have existed before the middle of the ninth century, it is very doubtful if we possess the text of even a line of Persian which was composed before the middle of the ninth century ; since the Persian poem alleged by 'Awfi to have been composed in A.D. 809 by a certain 'Abbas of Merv x on the occasion of the visit paid by al-Ma'mun to that city is, as Kazimirski has pointed out,2 of very suspicious authenticity. Yet no sooner had Khurasan, the province of Persia most remote from Baghdad, begun to shake itself free from the direct control of the Caliphs, than Persian poetry began to flourish, at first sporadically under the
1 See Ethe's tract entitled Rtldagi's Vorl&ufer und Zeitgenossen, ein Beitrag zur Kenntnissder altesien Denkmttler neupersischer Poesie, pp. 36-8, and Horn's Geschichte der pcrsischen Litteratur (Leipzig, 1901), pp. 47-6.
3 Menoutchehri, pp. 8-9 of the Introduction.
THE PERSIAN RENAISSANCE 341
Tahirid (A.D 820-872) and Saffarid (A.D. 868-903) dynasties, and then copiously under the dynasty, at once more national than the former and more noble than the latter, of the Sdmanids (A.D. 874-999), while in the Ghaznawf epoch, which immediately follows that which we are about to discuss, it may be said to have attained its full development, if not its zenith.
To this subject we shall return in another chapter, but it will be well first of all to treat more broadly of the general history of this period of the Caliphate, alike in its political, its religious, and its literary aspects. We shall therefore divide this Book, like the preceding ones, into three chapters, in the first of which we shall endeavour to present the reader with a conspectus of the whole period with which we are now dealing, while in the second we shall discuss more fully certain aspects of the religious and philosophical move- ments of the time, reserving for the last an account of the earliest period of Persian literature. And should the reader be tempted to complain of so much space being still devoted to phenomena which centre round Baghdad and appear more closely connected with Arabic than with Persian literature, he must remember that this is an essential part of the scheme on which this history is constructed, it being the author's pro- found conviction that the study of Persian, to prove fruitful, cannot be divorced from that of Arabic, even in its purely literary aspects, still less in the domains of religion and philosophy into which anything beyond the most superficial reading of the belles lettres of Persia must inevitably lead us. To those whose horizon of Persian literature is bounded by the Gulistan, the Bustdn^ the Anwar-i-Suhayli^ the Diwan of Hafidh, and the Quatrains of 'Umar Khayyam, this book is not addressed.
Our period opens with the comparatively long and wholly deplorable reign of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil (A.D. 847-861), which is characterised politically by the ascendancy of the
342 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
Turkish party and the repression of the Arabs, and, to a less extent, of the Persians ; and intellectually by the reaction against
the liberal Mu'tazilite doctrines and philosophical aiCMuPuw!kkii tendencies of the previous Caliphs, and a fanatical
hatred of 'AH and his Shila or faction. The place of the Barmecides and other noble Persians is taken by Turkish soldiers of fortune (originally, as a rule, slaves captured in the religious wars waged on the frontiers of Khurasan against heathen Turkish tribes), whose barbarous names well accord with their savage acts. The pages of the chronicles are filled with such : Boghb ("the Bull "), an older and a younger ; Bdghir, Utdmhh (who became Prime Minister two or three years after al-Mutawakkil's murder), Bdyabak^ Kalbatakin, and the like. The names of these Turkish mer- cenaries, even when they are in Arabic, denote their origin ; Wasif, for instance, one of the chief regicides who compassed al-Mutawakkil's death, stands revealed by his name as originally a slave.1 It was an evil day for the Caliphs when, ceasing to trust or sympathise with their own people, they surrounded themselves with these savage and self-seeking men of violence, and transferred their residence from Baghdad to Surra-man-ra'a (or Samarra), which, being interpreted, means "gladdened is he who hath beheld it," " from the beauty of its site," as Muir observes,2 "or, as was wittily said, ' Whoever saw it with the Turks settled there, rejoiced at Baghdad being well rid of them.' " And though this had happened already in the reign of al-Mu'tasim, the bitter fruits thereof first matured in the days of al-Mutawakkil.
The latter, it is true, had thought in the latter part of his
reign (A.D. 858) of moving his capital, but it is Bigotry of ai- characteristic of his admiration for the Umayyads
Mutawakkil. J J
and his anti-Shi'ite prejudices that it was Damascus, not Baghdad, which he had in mind. His religious
1 See Dozy's Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes, vol. ii, p. 810, s.v. » The Caliphate, 2nd ed. (1892), p. 509 ad cole,
BIGOTRY OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL 343
bigotry, which was especially directed against the Shi'a, but which also found its expression in vexatious enactments directed against the Jews and Christians, was, indeed, in complete keeping with his Turkish proclivities, and makes us liken him rather to a gloomy and fanatical Ottoman sultan than to the heir of al-Mansur and al-Ma'mun. As regards his attitude towards the Shi'a, it was not enough that he should on occasions shed their blood, as he did in the case of the tutor of his sons, Ibnu's- Sikkft, the celebrated grammarian r (A.D. 857), and, for more reason, of clsa b. Ja'far, who was, by his command, beaten to death in A.D. 855 for speaking ill of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'A'isha, and Hafsa, and his body refused burial and cast into the Tigris "as a warning to every heretic in the Faith who dissented from the body of believers " ; a his hatred extended itself to the great Imams of the Shi'a, 'All and al-Husayn, whom all good Muslims, be they of the Sunna or the Shi'a, revere. Thus in A.D. 851 he caused the holy shrine of Kerbela, built to com- memorate the martyrdom of al-Husayn, to be destroyed, and forbade men to visit the spot,3 which was ploughed over and sown with crops ; and he suffered, and apparently approved, a buffoon who, padded with pillows to give him an artificial paunch, used to hold up *Ali to ridicule before him and his courtiers.
As regards the Jews and Christians, many of whom, as we
have seen, stood high in honour with his predecessors, his first
enactment against them was issued early in his
Enactments . , ,
against the jews reign (A.D. o^o), and the second three or four
and Christians. \ '' _
years later. 1 hey were thereby compelled to wear " honey-coloured gowns (taylasdn\4 parti-coloured
1 Muir, op. cit., p. 525 ; Brockelmann, Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., i, p. 117. 3 Tabari's Annals, Ser. iii, pp. 1424-1426.
3 Ibid., Ser. iii, p. 1407.
4 The dull yellow garments which the Zoroastrinns of Persia (Yazd and Kirman) are still compelled to wear are the last remnant of these old disabilities. Sa'di, writing in the thirteenth century, still spoke of them as " 'asal-i-diikhta," " sewed [i.e. made up] honey." See n. 3 on p. 335 supra..
344 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
badges, and caps and girdles of certain ignoble patterns ; to ride only on mules and asses, with wooden stirrups and saddles of strange construction ; and to have placed over the doors of their houses effigies of devils. Such of their churches and temples as were of recent construction were destroyed, or converted into mosques ; their tombs were to be level with the ground ; and they were forbidden to gather in the streets or to exhibit the sign of the cross, while their children might not learn to write Arabic or receive instruction from a Muham- madan tutor.1
Ahmad b. Hanbal (tA.D. 855), the founder of the nar- rowest and least spiritual of the four orthodox schools of Sunni doctrine, was now the dominating religious
Thinkers and • n , , . . , . , .
writers of this influence, and was able to pay back with interest the harsh treatment which he had suffered at the hands of the Mu'tazilites. These, needless to say, fared but ill under the new regime, which was, indeed, generally un- favourable to men of science and philosophers. Thus the physician Bokht-Yishu',2 the grandson of him who was Director of the Hospital and Medical Schoja|r^tvJunde-SMpur in the Caliphate of al-Mansiir, was deprived ofalPTm" possessions and banished to Bahrayn (A.D. 858) for some trifling cause, and it is not surprising to find how comparatively small is the number of writers and scholars of eminence who flourished in al-Mutawakkil's time. Ibn Khurdddhbih wrote the first edition of his "Book of Itineraries" (Kitdbul- Masalik wa>l-Mamalik}3 about the beginning of this period : 'Abdu'lldh b. Salldm al-Jumahi, the author of a Memoir of
1 Muir's Caliphate, pp. 521-2 ; Tabari's Annals, Ser. iii, pp. 1389, etseqq. and 1419.
2 The meaning of this name is " Jesus hath delivered " : the first part of it is from an old Persian verb bokhtan, " to save," " deliver," and has nothing to do with bakht, " fortune." See an interesting note in Noldeke's Gescli. b. ArtachUr-i-Papakdn, p. 49, n. 4, ad calc.
3 Published, with French translation, in the Journal Asiatique for 1865 (Ser. vi, vol. 5, pp. 1-127 and 227-295 and 446-527), and in vol. vi of de Goeje's Bibl, Geogr. Arab,
AL-MUTAWAKKILS SUCCESSORS 345
the Poets (Tabaq^tu-sh-Shular&'} ; al-Waqidi's secretary, Ibn Sa'd the historian ; the Christian mathematician and man of science, Qusta b. Luqi ; and the Syrian Shi'ite and Shu'ubi poet, Diku'1-Jinn, who flourished about the same time or a little earlier, have been already mentioned, as have the unfor- tunate Ibnu's-Sikkit and Bokht-Yishii', and the now triumphant Ahmad b. Hanbal (t A.D. 855). - Apart from some other writers of note who flourished at this time, but whose names will be recorded according to the dates of their decease, almost the only men of letters who need be mentioned are the physician and translator from the Greek Yahyd b. Mdsawayh (d. A.D. 856), the historian of Mecca, al-Azraqi (t A.D. 858), and the poet Dilbil, who was also a Shi'ite (t A.D. 860). To these might be added the Egyptian mystic Dhu'n-Nun and his earlier congener al-Muhasibi ; the ill-fated poet 'AH b. Jahm as-Samf, one of whose panegyrics on al-Mutawakkil is still extant ; the poetess Fadl of Yamdma ; the musician Ishiq, son of the celebrated minstrel of Hariin's Court, Ibrahfm al-Mawsilf, and a few others.
At the end of the year A.D. 86 1 al-Mutawakkil, while overcome with drink, was murdered by his Turkish guards, who were instigated thereto by his son al-Mun- s! tasir ; but the parricide did not survive his victim a year. He and his three successors, al-Musta'fn, al-Mu'tazz, and al-Muhtadi, reigned in all only about nine years, and the three last were all in turn done to death, generally with circumstances of great brutality, by the Turks, who were now paramount. Al Muhtadf showed the greater spirit. "Earlier," says Muir (p. 535), "and supported by the Arabs, he might have restored life to the Caliphate. But now, both as regards number and discipline, foreigners had the upper hand." Yet he made a brave attempt to repress the growing presumption, arrogance, and violence of these blood- thirsty mercenaries, of which attempt his successor at any rate reaped the benefit.
346 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
It was during this turbulent epoch that Persian indepen- dence may be said to have been revived by the remarkable
achievements of Ya'qub the son of Layth " the Persian indepen- Coppersmith" (as-Saffdr\ who, notwithstanding
his humble origin, succeeded in founding a dynasty which, though short-lived, made its power felt not merely in Sfstan, the place of its origin, but throughout the greater part of Persia and almost to the walls of Baghdad. The Tahirids are, it is true, generally reckoned an earlier Persian dynasty, and in a certain sense they were so. Their ancestor, Tdhir " the Ambidexter" (Dhul-Yaminayri), was rewarded by al-Ma'mun for his signal services in the field with the govern- ment of Khurasan (A.D. 820), and the continuance of this dignity to his heirs unto the third generation gave to the family a local authority and position which previous governors, appointed only for a term of years and removable at the Caliph's pleasure, had never enjoyed. It is a matter of common observation that settlers in a country, often after a comparatively brief residence, outdo those native to the soil in patriotic feeling, a fact of which the history of Ireland in particular affords plentiful examples ; for what proportion of the foremost leaders of Irish struggles against English authority — the Fitzgeralds, Emmetts, Wolfe Tones, and Napper Tandys of the '98 — could claim- to be of purely Irish ex- traction ? And so it would not be a surprising phenomenon if the Tahirids, notwithstanding their Arab extraction, had become wholly Persianised. But though the earliest Persian poet, whose verses have been preserved to us — Handhala of Badghfs — appears to have lived more or less under their patronage, it is doubtful whether they really sought, as did their successors, the Saffarids and Samanids, to foster the renaissance of the Persian language and literature. Dawlatshah,1 discussing the origins of Persian poetry, relates that on one occasion a man came to the Court of 'Abdu'lldh b. Tahir 1 See p. 30 of my edition of Dawlatshah.
THE PERSIAN RENAISSANCE 347
(A.D. 828-844) at Nishdpur and offered him an ancient Persian book. To his inquiry as to its nature the man replied, " It is the Romance of Wamiq and 'Adhra? a pleasing tnle which was compiled by wise men and dedicated to King Niishirwdn." The Amir replied, " We are men who read the Our'in, and need not such books, but only the Scripture and Tradition. This book, moreover, was composed by Magians, and is accursed in our eyes." He then ordered the volume to be cast into the water, and issued instructions that wherever in his territories any Persian book of Magian authorship might be discovered it should be destroyed. Without attaching too much historical importance to this story, we may yet take it as representing more or less correctly the attitude of the Tahirids to things Persian ; and an anecdote related by Dawlatshdh immediately after this, in which the little son of Yacqub the Coppersmith is represented as spontaneously producing, in an access of childish glee, the first rude Persian verse of Muhammadan times, may at least be taken as indicating a general conviction that to the Saffarids Persia owed in no small measure the recovery of her national life.
It was in the very year of al-Mutawakkil's death that this Yacqub first appears on the scene, emerging from his native Sfstan. and advancing on Herdt.1 Some eight years later (A.D. 869) we find him in possession of Kirmdn, and sending gifts to the Caliph al-Mu'tazz. From this time onwards until his death (A.D. 876) we find him steadily enlarging his domains, to which Balkh, Tukharistan, Sind, Nishdpur, part ot Tabaristdn, Pdrs, Rdm-Hurmuz, and Ahwdz were successively added. A full account of his career, based on the best authorities, has been given by Professor Noldeke of Strassburg in his admirable Sketches from Eastern History (J. Sutherland Black's translation, pp. 176-206), to which the reader is referred for fuller particulars. The dynasty 1 Jabari's Annals, Ser. iii, p. 1500,
348 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
founded by Ya'qub practically ceased with the defeat of his brother and successor 'Amr at Balkh by Isma'il b. Ahmad the Samanid in A.D. 900, but it had at least succeeded in reviving the national life of Persia, and in detaching its history definitely from that of the 'Abbasid metropolis.
About the same time (A.D. 865) another province of Persia, Tabaristan, the strip of fen and forest land lying
between the Elburz Mountains and the southern TofT^blristnanSty shore of the Caspian Sea, gained a precarious
independence under a scion of the House of 'All named Hasan b. Zayd, called "the Stone-lifter" (jfdlibul- h'tj&ra) because of his great strength. He was succeeded by several other Sayyids of his house, whose virtues, princely generosity, charities and encouragement of learning, form a favourite- theme of Ibn Isfandiydr * (who wrote early in the thirteenth century) and other historians of this province. Needless to say that they were all ardent supporters of the Sh{4ite doctrine and cause. Some of them were not only patrons of letters and founders of colleges, but poets as well, and Ibn Isfandiyar cites in his work a number of Arabic verses composed by them, including a polemic in verse against the Sunnl Ibn Sukkara by Sayyid Abu'l-Husayn al-Mu'ayyad bi'llah. It is not unlikely that verses in the dialect of Tabaristan (from which are descended the modern Mazan- darani and Gilakf idioms) may also have been composed at this epoch, though the earliest which I have met date from the Seljuq period only, or at most (e.g., Pindar of Ray, who flourished early in the eleventh century) from a slightly earlier epoch.
1 This valuable work exists only in manuscript. Copies of it are pre- served in the British Museum, the Bodleian, the India Office, the Biblio- theque Nationale, and St. Petersburg. A long extract from it relating to early Sasanian times was published with a French translation by the late Professor James Darmesteter in the Journal Asiatiqiie for 1894, pp. 185-250 and 502-555. The account of the poet Firdawsi cited in it from the Chahdr Jdaydla was also used (before the latter work was rendered generally
N
349
Persia, then, at the epoch of which we are now speaking, was beginning to struggle into a new national life, and to give fresh expression to its marked preference for the Shi'ite doctrine. For Ya'qub b. Layth, if we are to credit the long account of his successful revolt against the Caliphate (for such, in effect, it was) given by the Nidhamu'1-Mulk in his " Treatise on the Art of Government " (Siydsat-ndmay ed. Schefer, pp. 11-17) hac* strong Shf'ite leanings ; though of course what is there saicl about his relations with the Fatimid Caliph (who only began to establish his power some thirty-five years after Ya'qub's death) is an absurd anachronism. And in the Biography of eminent Shakes lithographed at Tihrdn in A.H. 1268 (A.D. 185 1-2) under the title of Maj&lhii'l-Miimmln * (" Assemblies of True Believers ") the Saffarids are included amongst the adherents of the ShI'a cause. The evidence there adduced for Ya'qub's religious standpoint is rather quaint. Information was communicated to him that a certain Abu Yiisuf had spoken slightingly of 'Uthman b. 'AffSn ; and Ya'qiib, thinking that a Sistanf noble of this name was intended, ordered him to be punished. But when he was informed that it was the third Caliph, the successor of 'Umar, who had been thus reviled, he countermanded the punishment at once, saying, "I have nothing to do with the 'Companions.*" A third great event belonging to this period was the formidable rebellion of negro slaves (Zanj = Ethiopian)
which for nearly fourteen years (A.D. 869-883) T^beiifon.5 caused the utmost alarm and anxiety to the
metropolis of Isldm. The scene of this stubborn and, for a long while, successful revolt was the marshes lying between Basra and Wasit, and the leader of these African
accessible by my translation of it in the J. R. A.S. for 1899) by Dr. Ethe and Professor Noldeke.
1 The utility of this valuable work, written about A.D. 1585, by Sayyid Nuru'llah b. Sayyid Sharif al-Mar'ashi of Shushtar, is, unfortunately, greatly marred by the fact that in the lithographed edition the pages are not numbered, and there are no indices.
350 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
slaves was a Persian, 'All b. Muhammad of Warzanm (near Ray), who, though boasting descent from 'All and Fatima, proclaimed the doctrines not of the Shi'ites but of the Kha- rijites. The explanation of this curious fact is given by Professor Noldeke in the excellent account of this " Servile War in the East " given in his Sketches from Eastern History (chap, v, pp. 146—175) : the rebel leader knew his clientele too well to tempt them with a bait which, though efficacious enough with his own countrymen, would have entirely failed to appeal to minds far more ready to absorb the democratic views of the KMrijites than the sentimental legitimist aspira- tions of the Shi'a. And so, as Noldeke has pointed out (op. cit., p. 152)—
" It is abundantly clear why Karmat, one of the founders of the Karmatians, an extreme Shiite sect which was destined soon after this to fill the whole Mohammedan world with fear and dismay, should, on religious grounds, have decided not to connect himself with the negro leader, however useful this association might other- wise have been to him."
The year A.H. 260 (=A.D. 873-4) was in several respects an important epoch in Muhammadan, especially in Shi'ite, history ; but, before speaking of it, we may briefly mention the chief men of letters who died during tne decade which preceded it, which includes the first four years of al-Muctamid's Caliphate.
Abu Hdtim of Sajistin (Sfstin), who died about A.D. 864,
was the pupil of al-Asma'i and the teacher of the celebrated
al-Mubarrad. Some thirty-two of his works are
Ab"s"4nm°f enumerated in the Fihrist, but the only one
preserved to us in its entirety (and that only in
the unique Cambridge manuscript, which formerly belonged to
the traveller Burckhardt) is the Kit&biil-Mulammarln (" Book
of the Long-lived "), published with introduction and notes by
the learned Goldziher (Leyden, 1899).
REIGN OF AL-MU'TAMID 351
Much more important was 'Amr b. Bahr, surnamed "al- Jdhidh " because of his prominent eyes, a man of great erudition and remarkable literary activity (tA.D. 869). He was a staunch adherent of the Mu'tazi- lite doctrine, of which one school bears his name. Of his works, which chiefly belong to the class of belles lettres (adab) several have been published : the Kitabul-Baydn wa't- tlby&n in Cairo; and the Kitabu'l-Bukhald ("Book of Misers ") in Leyden by Van Vloten. He also wrote a tract "on the Virtues of the Turks," which exists in several manuscripts. He stood in high favour under al-Ma'mun and his two successors, but narrowly escaped death on the fall and execution of his patron, the wazlr Ibnu'z-Zayydt. His writings are equally remarkable for style and contents, and entitle him to be placed in the foremost rank of early Arabic prose writers.
A year later than al-Jdhidh (A.D. 870) died the great traditionist al-Bukhdr{, the author of the celebrated Collec- tion of Traditions called the Sahih, which,
MMiimhdat- amongst all SunnI Muhammadans, ranks as
Ta™NasaTd tne highest authority on this subject. Another
work on the same subject, and bearing the same
title, was compiled by Muslim of Nfshdpur, who died a few
years later (A.D. 875) ; another by at-Tirmidhf (t A.D. 892),
and a fourth by an-Nasd'{ (t A.D. 914). These four great
traditionists were all natives of Khurdsdn, and were probably
of Persian extraction.
The only other writers of this period who need be mentioned are the poetess Fadl of Yamdma (t A.D. 873), who in her earlier life professed Shi'ite views, and the Christian physician and translator Hunayn b. Ishdq, who poisoned himself in A.D. 873 on account of the vexation caused him by his excommunication by his bishop Theodosius.
We now come to the year A.M. 260 (= A.D. 873-4), a year memorable for the following important events : (i) the
DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
" Occultation " or Disappearance of the Twelfth Ln£m of the ShCite " Sect of the Twelve ; " (2) the beginning of the Pro- paganda of the Shf'ite " Sect of the Seven," or The2&,rA'H' Isma'flis, which led directly to the rise of the Carmathians (££armatly pi. ^aramita] and the foundation of the Fatimid Anti-Caliphate of North Africa and Egypt ; and (3) the establishment of the Samanid dynasty in Khurasdn. In this year also the great Sufi saint Bayazfd of Bistam died, and the theologian Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari was born ; he who was destined to give the coup de grace to the Mu'tazilite ascendancy in Islam, and to give currency and form to that narrower and more illiberal doctrine which has given to the Muhammadan religion its rigid and stereotyped charac ter. The religious phenomena of this critical period will be more fully discussed in the following chapter, and here we shall continue to speak chiefly of external and political events.
The rise of the Sdmanid dynasty coincided with, and indeed brought about, the fall of the short-lived power of the Copper- smith's sons Ya'qub and 'Amr, and marks the T1DyLdaTtynid really active beginning of the Persian Renaissance. Samdn, after whom the dynasty is called, claimed descent from Bahrain Chubfn (see p. 181 supra), and the genuineness of this pedigree is admitted by the learned and exact Abu Rayhan al-Birunf.1 He was converted from the Zoroastrian faith to Islam by Asad b. 'Abdu'llah, the governor of Khurasan, after whom he named his son. His four grand- sons all had provincial governments in Khurasan in the Caliphate of al-Ma'mun (about A.D. 819), but Ahmad, the second of them, was most successful in extending and con- solidating his dominions, and his two sons, Nasr I and Isma'fl, succeeded in overthrowing the Saffarid power, taking 'Amr b. Layth (who succeeded his brother Ya'qub in A.D. 876) captive
1 See p. 48 of Sachau's translation of his Chronology of Ancient Nations. Al-Biruni died in A.D. 1048.
B. LAYTH 353
in A.D. 900, and establishing a dynasty which flourished for nearly 125 years ere it was in turn overthrown by the rising might of the House of Ghazna.
Two anecdotes concerning the Saffdrids, both to be found in the Nidhamu'l-Mulk's Siydsat-ndma (ed. Schefer, pp. 13-16),
are too typical and too celebrated amongst the Acem1nMh°en" Persians to be omitted here. The first concerns deabhLaythq"b the elder brother Ya'qub. When, after his defeat
by the troops of the Caliph al-Mu'tamid on the occasion of his persistent attempt to enter Baghdad, he lay dying of colic, the Caliph, still tearing him, sent him a conciliatory letter, wherein, while reproaching him for his disobedience, he held out conditional promises of forgiveness and compensation.
" When Ya'qub had read the Caliph's letter," says the narrator, " his heart was in no way softened, neither did he experience any remorse for his action ; but he bade them put some cress and fish and a few onions on a wooden platter, and set them before him. Then he bade them introduce the Caliph's ambassador, and caused him to be seated. Then he turned his face to the ambassador and said, ' Go, tell the Caliph that I am the son of a coppersmith, and learned from my father the coppersmith's craft. My food has been barley bread, fish, cress and onions. This dominion and gear and treasure and goods I won by cunning and courage ; I neither inherited them from my father nor received them from thee. I will not rest until I send thy head to Mahdiyya ' and destroy thy House : I will either do this which I say, or I will return to my barley bread and fish and cress. Behold, I have opened the doors of my treasure- houses, and have again called out my troops, and I come on the heels of this message.'"*
This anecdote well illustrates the character ot the doughty coppersmith.
1 The genuineness of this speech is disproved by this anachronism. Mahdiyya, the first capital of the Fatimid Caliphs, was not founded for more than thirty years after Ya'qub's death, which happened in June, A.D. 879.
' Cf. Noldeke's Sketches, English translation, p. 193, and also Ibnu'l* Athir, Cairo ed., vol. vii, p. 107.
24
354 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
The second anecdote, which is even more celebrated,
concerns the final defeat of 'Amr b. Layth, Ya'qiib's brother
and successor, who, having been declared a rebel
cerning 'Amr b. by the Caliph al-Mu'tamid in A.D. 884, was
Layth's defeat by ' ' - .
isma'ii the restored to favour for a brief period in A.D. 800,
Samanid. . r
then again disavowed, until in May, A.D. 895, he was utterly routed near Balkh by Isma'ii b. Ahmad the Samanid, whom the Caliph had incited to attack him. Of the seventy thousand horsemen whom he had reviewed before the battle, all were scattered, though, it is said, not one was even wounded ; and evening saw the fallen prince a captive in the enemy's camp, and in want of a supper. A farrdsh, who had formerly been in his employment, happened to pass by, and took pity on him. He bought some meat, borrowed a frying- pan from one of the soldiers, made a fire of camel-dung, and set the pan over it, supported on a few clods of earth. Then he went off to get some salt, and while he was gone a hungry dog, attracted by the savoury smell, came up and thrust its nose into the frying-pan to pick out a bone. The hot frying-pan burned its nose, and as it drew back its head the ring-like handle of the pan fell on its neck, and when it took to its heels in terror it carried the frying-pan and the supper with it. When 'Amr saw this, he turned to the soldiers and sentinels who stood by and said, " Be warned by me ! I am he whose kitchen it needed four hundred camels to carry this morning, and to-night it has been carried off by a dog ! " Abu Mansur ath-Tha'alibf remarks in his Lataiful-Malarif (ed. de Jong, p. 88) that two of the most extraordinary battles were this one, which put an end to the Saffarid power, when an army of fifty thousand escaped, though utterly routed, only the leader being taken captive ; and the battle between al-'Abbds b. 'Amr and'the Carmathians at Hajar, wherein the ten thousand soldiers of the former perished to a man, and only their leader escaped.
About the year A.D. 880 there rose to brief but considerable
AHMAD OF KHUJISTAN 355
.power a certain Ahmad of Khujistdn (near Herat) who deserves a passing mention because of the manner in which, according to the author of the Chahdr Maqala (who wrote about the middle of the twelfth century),1 his ambition was first stirred by two Persian verses of the poet Handhala of Badghis. He was asked, " How did'st thou, who wert originally an ass-herd, become Amfr of Khurasan ? " " One day," he answered, " I was reading the Dfwan of Handhala of Badghis in Badghfs of Khujistan when I chanced on these two couplets : —
' If lordship lies within the lion's jaws, Go, risk it, and from those dread portals seize Such straight-confronting death as men desire, Or riches, greatness, rank and lasting ease.' "
At this time the Saffarids were at the zenith of their power, and al-Khujistanf, moved by a new ambition, sold his asses, bought a horse, and entered the service of 'Amr b. Layth. Later he renounced his allegiance to them, and took Khwaf, Bayhaq, and Ni'shapur. " My affairs prospered and improved," says he, " until all Khurasan lay open to me, and I took possession of it for myself. Of all this, these two verses of poetry were the cause." This story, told by an old and generally accurate authority, is to my mind the best proof of the existence of a considerable amount of Persian poetry even before the time of the Samanids ; though of poets who flourished under the Tahirids and Saffarids the names of only some half-dozen at most — the above Handjiala, Mahmud the bookseller (Warraq), Ffruz-i-Mashriqf, Abu Salik of Gurgan and one or two more — are preserved to us.
Under the Samanids (A.D. 874-999) the case was different,
and we find Persian verse, and to a lesser extent thr&iLinfdl Persian prose, flourishing in full vigour, the most
celebrated poet of this period being Riidagi (or
1 See pp. 43-44 of the separate reprint of the translation which I published in the J. R. A. S. for 1899.
356 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
Rawdhaki), who flourished in the first half of the tenth century. Indeed his fame so far outshone that of his pre- decessors that he is often reckoned the first Persian poet : thus in an Arabic " Book of Origins " written early in the thirteenth century x occurs the following passage : —
"The first to compose good poetry in Persian was Abu 'Ab- di'llah Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Hakim b. 'Abdu'r-Rahman b. Adam ar-Rawdhakt,2 that poet so piquant in expression, so fluent in verse, whose Diwdn is famous amongst the Persians, and who was the leader in Persian poetry in his time beyond all his contemporaries. The minister Abu'1-Fadl al-Bal'ami used to say, ' Rawdhaki has no equal amongst the Arabs or the Persians.' "
The minister above cited was wazlr to Isma'il b. Ahmad, and died in 940 ; he is not to be confounded with his son
Abu 'Ali al-Bal'ami, who was wazlr to the Baraks. Amir Mansur b. Nuh, translated Tabarfs great
chronicle into Persian, and died in A.D. 996. Turning once more to Baghdad, and to the metropolitan, as opposed to the provincial, writers of al-Mu'tamid's Caliphate
(A.D. 870-893), we need notice only, amongst C^AD^STJ^Q;} events °f general importance, the suppression of - the Zanj insurrection in A.D. 883, and the increasing activity of the Carmathians, whose history and doctrines will be more fully discussed in the next chapter. The chief writers and thinkers who died between A.D. 874 and 900 were the following : The " Philosopher of the Arabs," Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, whose literary activity chiefly belongs to an earlier and more liberal period, is supposed to have died about A.D. 874. He is notable as one of the few pure Arabs who were really distinguished in the domain of thought and letters. Hunayn b. Ishaq, the physician and translator, who died about the same time, has been already
1 See my Hand-list of the Muhammadan MSS. in the Cambridge University Library, pp. 125-6. 3 See Carra de Vaux, Avicenne, pp. 80-88.
MEN OF LETTERS (A.D. 874-900) 357
mentioned. Ibnu'l-Wahshiyya, the author of the celebrated " Book of Nabathzan Agriculture," wherein he sought to demonstrate, the superiority of the old Babylonians to the Arabs in point of civilisation, flourished about this period. Da'ud b. 'All, the founder of the Dhahiri (or Zahirite x) school, who held strongly to the literal meaning of the Qur'an and Traditions, and discountenanced all allegorical interpretations,2 died in A.D. 883. Abii Ma'shar, the great astronomer, one of al-Kindi's pupils, died in A.D. 885, about which time al-Fakihi, the historian of Mecca, wrote. Ibn Maja (t A.D. 885) should have been mentioned in connection with al-Bukhdrf and his successors in the Science of Tradition. Sahl b. 'Abdu'llah of Shushtar, mystic and Qur'dn-reader, was a pupil of the earlier mystic Dhu'n-Nvin, and died about A.D. 886. As a collector and critical editor of old Arabic poems (e.g., the Diwdn of the poets of the tribe of Hudhayl) as-Sukkari, one of al-Asma'i's pupils, deserves a passing mention (t A.D. 888). The erotic and satirical poet Ibnu'r-Rumi owed his death (A.D. 889 or 896) to his bitter tongue. Ibn Abi'd-Dunya (d. A.D. 894), tutor to the Caliph al-Muktafi in his youth, was the author of several collections of stories and anecdotes. Al-Buhturi the poet (A.D. 897) and al-Mubarrad the philologist (t A.D. 899) ought also to be mentioned. Much more important, however, from our point of view are the four historians Ibn Qutayba (t A.D. 889), al-Baladhuri (t A.D. 892), ad-Dinawari (t A.D. 895), and Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi, who wrote about this time. 3 Of these, the first three were Persians, while the last was an
*• See a monograph on this school by Dr. Ignaz Goldziher, Die Zdhiriten Leipzig, 1884.
a See Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., vol. i, pp. 120, 123, and 141.
3 The works of these writers, which have been published and are easily accessible, and which should be read by all students of Persian history, are : the Kitdbu'l-Ma'drif of Ibn Qutayba (ed. Wustcnfeld, GSttingen, 1850) ; the Futithu'l-Bulddn (ed. de Goeje, Leyden, 1855) ; the Akhbdru't- fiwdlol Dinawari (ed. Guirgass, Leyden, 1888) ; and al-Ya'qiibi's History (ed. Houtsma, Leyden, 1883, 2 vols.).
358 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
ardent Shi'ite, which gives his admirable history a special interest, since he speaks at greater length of the Imams, and cites many of their sayings. Indeed Goldziher and Brockel- mann, two of the greatest living authorities on Arabic literature in its widest sense, agree in the opinion "that the historical sense was entirely lacking in the ancient Arabs," and that "the idea of historiography was first inspired in them by Persian culture."1 To the writers above enumerated we may add the celebrated mathematician Thabit b. Qurra the Harranian, and the geographer Ibnu'l-Faqih al-Hamadhanf, both of whom died about the beginning of the tenth century of our era.
On the death of the Caliph al-Mu'tadid and the accession
of his son al-Muktaf{ the Samanids were practically supreme
in Persia, while around Baghdad and Basra, in
Caliphate of
ai-Muktafi Syria and in Yaman the terrible Carmathians,
(A.D. 902-908). J
under their able leader Zikrawayh, inspired the utmost terror — a terror which cannot be regarded as ill-founded when we remember that on the occasion of one of their attacks on the pilgrim-caravans returning from Mecca 20,000 persons are said to have been left dead on the field. Only two writers of note who died during this period need be mentioned : the Shf'ite divine al-Qumm{ (t A.D. 903), and the royal poet Ibnu'l-Mu'tazz, who is notable as having produced one of the nearest approximations to an epic poem to be found in Arabic literature,2 and also one of the " Memoirs of the Poets " (Tabaq&t\ which served as a model to ath-Tha'alib^al-Bakharzf, and other compilers of such biographical anthologies.
We next come to the comparatively long reign of al- Muqtadir (A.D. 908-932), of which the most important
1 Brockelmann, op. cit., p. 134.
2 See pp. 83-86 of Brockelmann's Gesch. a. Arab. Lift, (in vol. vi of Amelang's monographs, Leipzig, 1901 ; not to be confounded with the more scientific work by the same author, and with almost the same title, published at Weimar in 1897- ).
REIGN OF AL-MUQTADIR 359
political event was the establishment ot the Fatimid, or
Isma'llf, Anti-Caliphate in North Africa (A.D. 909), with
Mahdiyya ("the City of the Mahdf," i.e., of
ai-Muqtadir 'Ubadu'lldh, the first Caliph of this dynasty) as (A.D. 9ofH>32). . . * . . ' ':
its capital. I he activity or the L/armathians
continued unabated, in spite of the deaths of their leaders Zikrawayh and al-Jannabf the Elder : in A.D. 924 they entered Basra ; in the following year they again attacked the Pilgrim-caravan ; in A.D. 929 they invaded Mecca itself, and, to the unspeakable horror of all pious Muslims, carried off the Sacred Black Stone, which they kept for twenty years ; while, in the closing -years of al-Muqtadir's reign, they entered Kufa and took possession of 'Umman. About this time, however, their activity was checked, not so much by any external force, as by the scandals connected with the appearance of the false Mahdf Ibn Abf Zakariyya,1 whose abominable teachings are summarised by al-Bininf in his Chronology of indent Nations."2 Yet some years later, in A.D. 939, we find them still levying blackmail (khif&ra) on the pilgrims to Mecca.3
To turn now to Persian affairs at this period, we may notice first the final suppression, even in Sfstdn, of the House of Layth
(the Saffarids) about A.D. 910, when Tahir and af?h?snPerkJd3 Ya'qub, the grandsons of 'Amr, were taken
prisoners and sent captive to Baghdad. In A.D. 913 Nasr II succeeded to the Samanid throne, and in his long reign (he died in A.D. 942) the power and splendour of that illustrious House reached their zenith,4 and Riidagf, the first great Persian poet, was at the height of his renown and popularity. Yet Tabaristan was wrested from him by the 'Alawf Sayyid Hasan b. 1AH Utrush, whose family maintained their footing there till A.D. 928, when Marddwfj b. Ziyar succeeded in seizing the province and establishing there a
1 See de Goeje's Carmathes du Bahrain, p. 131.
* Sachau's translation, pp. 196-7. 3 De Goeje, op. cit., p. 140.
4 Chahur Maqdla, separate reprint, p. 51.
360- DECLINE >OF THE CALIPHATE
dynasty (known as the Ziyarids) which endured, and played an honourable part in the promotion of learning and the protection of letters, for more than a century, ere it was extinguished by the Ghaznawls. And in yet another way Mardawfj played an important part in Persian history, for to him the great House of Buwayh, which by the middle of the tenth century was practically supreme throughout Southern Persia and in Baghdad itself, owed its first fortunes ; and from him cAlib. Buwayh, who afterwards, with the title of 'Imddu'd- Dawla, ruled over Fars, or Persis proper, received his first appointment as governor of Karach.
Amongst the men of learning who flourished at this epoch
the first place must without doubt be assigned to the historian
Abu Ja'far Muhammad .b. Jarfr at-Tabarf (t A.D.
Writers and men x . ,-,, . ,
of learning of this Q2?),1 whose great Chronicle ends ten years earlier
epoch.-tabari. * *» \ .
(A.H. 300 = A.D. 912-913), thus depriving us of one of our best sources of information, though the Supplement of 'Arfb b. Sa'd of Cordova carries us down to the end of al-Muqtadir's Caliphate (A.H. 320 = A.D. 932), after which we have to depend chiefly for general history on Ibnu'l-Athfr (t A.D. 1232-3), the author of the great Kamilut-TawMkh*
"In this year" (A.H. 310), says the latter, "died at Baghdad Mu- hammad b. Jarir at-Tabari, the historian, who was born in A.H. 224 (= A.D. 838-9). He was buried by night in his house, because the mob assembled and prevented him from being buried by day, declaring that he was a Rafidi (Shi'ite) and even a heretic. And 'Ali b. 'Isa used to say, ' By Allah, were these people to be questioned
1 The edition of this great work by Professor de Goeje and a small body of the most distinguished Arabic scholars must be regarded as the greatest achievement of Oriental scholarship in Europe in "recent times. This edition comprises 13 vols. of text and 2 vols. of Indices and Apparatus Criticus ; the publication was begun at Leyden in A.D. 1879, ar*d com- pleted in 1901. 'Arib's Tabari continuatus, edited by de Goeje, was published in 1897.
2 Tornberg's edition (Leyden, 1851-1876) in 14 vols. is the best, as it has an index, which the Cairo edilion of A.H. 1303 (the text which I have used throughout) has not.
AL-HUSAYN B. MANSER AL-HALlAj 361
as to what was meant by a Rafidt or a heretic, they would neither know nor be capable of understanding ! ' Thus Ibn Miskawayh, the author of the Tajdribu'l-umam, who defends this great leader of thought (Imam) from these charges. Now as to what he says con- cerning the fanaticism of the mob, the matter was not so ; only some of the Hanbalites, inspired with a fanatical hatred of him, attacked him, and they were followed by others. And for this there was a reason, which was that Tabari compiled a book, the like of which had never been composed, wherein he mentioned the differences of opinion of the theologians, but omitted all reference to Ahmad b. Hanbal. And when he was taken to task about this, he said, ' He was not a theologian, but only a traditionist ; ' and this annoyed the Hanbalites, who were innumerable in Baghdad ; so they stirred up mischief against him, and said what they pleased."
Of an utterly different character to this sober and erudite historian was another Persian of this period, whose reputation
— somewhat transfigured, it is true, by pious Mansuraf-Haudj. hagiologists — is at least as enduring amongst his
countrymen, and to whom admiring references are frequently made by the Persian Siiff poets, such as Farfdu'd- Dfn 4Attar, Hafidh and the like. This was al-Husayn b. Mansur " the Wool-carder " (al-Hallaj), who was arrested for preaching heretical doctrines in Baghdad and the neighbour- hood in A.D. 913 (Tabarf, iii, p. 2289), and put to death with circumstances of great cruelty in A.D. 921. The charge against him which is chiefly remembered is that in a state ot ecstasy he cried, " Ana'1-Haqq " ("I am the True One," or "the Fact," i.e. God), and the Stiffs regard this utterance as the outcome of a state of exaltation wherein the Seer was so lost in rapture at the contemplation of the Beatific Vision of the Deity that he lost all cognisance and consciousness of him- self, and indeed of all Phenomenal Being. At most, say they, his crime was only that he revealed the secret ; and generally he is regarded as a saint and a martyr. Thus Hafidh says (ed. Rosenzweig-Schwannau, vol. i, p. 364) : —
Chu Mansiirdn nturdd dndn ki bar ddrand bar ddr-and, Ki bd in dard agar dar band-i-darmdn-and, dar mdnantt.
362 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
"Those who attain their desire are, like Mansurs, crucified, For if, [being afflicted] with this grief, they hope for a remedy, they fail [to find it]."
And again in another poem (not given in the above edition) he says : —
Kashad naqsh-i- 'ANA'L-HAQQ' bar zantln khiin, Chu Mansiir ar kashi bar ddr-am imshab I
" My blood would write ' I am the True One ' on the ground, If thou wert to hang me, like Mansur, on the cross to-night.'
The later Stiff conception of this man may be found in such works as the Tadhkiratul-Awllya of Faridu'd-Dm 'Attar, or the Nafahdtifl- Uns of Jdmf, or, for European readers, in Tholuck's Ssufisrnus (Berlin, 1821), pp. 68, 152, &c. ; but the older and better authorities, Tabari (iii, p. 2289), Ibn Mis- kawayh and the Kitdbu'l- lUyiin (cited on pp. 86-108 of de Goeje's ed. of 'Arib), and the Fihrist (pp. 190-192), present him in a different light as "a wily conjuror," " bedecking his doctrines in the phraseology of the Sufis," "an ignorant and forward pretender to all the sciences," " a dabbler in Alchemy," a dangerous and impudent political intriguer, claiming to be an Incarnation of the Deity and outwardly professing the Shi'ite doctrine, but actually in league with the Carmathians and Isma'iKs. Some forty-five books com- posed by him are enumerated by the Fihrist (p. 192), and what we learn (^Arib^ p. 90) as to the sumptuous manner in which they are written out, sometimes with gold ink, on Chinese paper, brocade, silk, and the like, and magnificently bound, reminds us strongly of the Manichaeans. In short, as to the extreme unorthodoxy of this Persian, whose near ancestors had held the Magian faith, there can be little doubt, though the great al-Ghazzdli himself undertook his defence in the Mishkdtul-Anwdr £Ar\b, p. 1 08) ; he certainly held all the cardinal doctrines of the Ghuldt or extreme Shf'ites; to wit,
REIGN OF AL-MUQTADIR 363
Hulul (Incarnation), Rlfat (Return to the life of the world in another body), and the like. But he is a remarkable figure, and has created a deep impression on the minds of his country- men, while some of his Arabic verses are really strong and original, as, for instance, the following (^Arlb^ p. 106) : —
" My Friend is unrelated to aught of ruth : He gave me to drink of the Cup which He quaffs, as doth host
with guest. And when the Cup had gone round, He called for the sword
and the headsman's carpet : Thus fares it with him who drinks Wine with the Dragon in
Summer."
His master and teacher Junayd (also, as it would appear,
junaydot a Persian), who died in A.D. 910, was only a little less celebrated, and not much more orthodox.
Amongst other eminent men who died during the Caliphate
01 al-Muqtadir were Ishaq b. Hunayn, like his father a physician
and translator into Arabic of works on Greek
°meneoTaT-nt Philosophy (t A.D. 911); an-Nasa'i, the tradi-
c^ptl'te3 tiormt (f A.D. 914); Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Zakariyyd ar-Rdzf, the eminent physician known to mediaeval Europe as Rhazes (t ' A.D. 923 or 9^2)^_whose most celebrated work, the Mansurly was dedicated to the Sdmdnid Prince Mansur b. Ishdq ; the historian al-A'tham of Kiifa, whose History of the Early Caliphs is remarkable for its strong Shi'ite bias, and is only known to us through its much later Persian translation (lithographed at Bombay A.H. 1305) ; Muhammad b. Jdbir b. Sindn al-Battdnf, the astronomer, known to mediaeval Europe as Albategnius (t A.D. 929) ; and the poet Ibnu'l-' Alldf (t A.D. 930), a friend of Ibnu'l-Mu'tazz, whose cruel death, which could not be openly deplored, is supposed to form the real subject of the celebrated poem professedly written on the death of a favourite cat killed by a pigeon-rancier on account or its depredations.1 Lastly \v-j
1 See de Slane's Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp. 4oo~4or.
364 DECLINE OP THE CALIPHATE
may mention Ibn Muqla, the famous calligraphist, who was wazlr to al-Muqtadir and his two immediate successors.
The short reigns of the next four Caliphs, al-Qdhir, ar- Radf, al-Muttaqf and al-Mustakff (A.D. 932-946), were chiefly- remarkable for the rise of the Bu way hid power, to- of which the first beginnings have been already mentioned. With the help of their Daylamf and Gflani troops, the three sons of Buwayh, 'All ^Imadud-Dawla^ Hasan Ruknud-Dawla and Ahmad Muii<zzu>d-Dawla, having successively subdued Isfahan, Arrajan, Nawbandajan, Kazarun, Shfrdz, Kirman and Ahwaz, obtained effective control of Baghdad itself during the short reign of al-Mustakff, who, besides the honorific titles given above in italics, conferred on the third brother the style and rank of Am'iru^l-Umara^ or Chief Noble.1 These Buwayhids were Persians and Shf'ites : they claimed (though, as al-Bfrunf holds,2 on insufficient grounds) descent from the Sasanian King Bahram Gur; and they were generous patrons of literature and science. Philosophy especially, which had been stifled by Th'nflueSceCent Turkish ascendancy and Hanbalite fanaticism, as well as by the growing strength of al-Ashcari's doctrines, once more revived, and soon found expression in the formation of that remarkable fraternity of encyclopaedists known as the Ikhwanu's-SafA, or "Brethren of Purity," who summed up the physical and metaphysical sciences Th« ikhw&mt's- Qf ^^ tjmg >n a serjes of flfty.one tracts, the
contents of which have been largely rendered accessible to European readers by Professor F. Dieterici's numerous publications on this subject. In the Caspian provinces the House of Ziyar maintained an authority curtailed in other directions by their own protlghy the Buwayhids ; which authority
1 Lane's Muhammadan Dynasties, pp. 139-144.
3 Al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's translation), PP- 4S-46-
THE S AM A NWS 365
was wielded for thirty-two years (A.D. 935-957) by Washmgfr, the son of Ziydr and brother of Mardawij.
In the north-east of Persia, Khurisan and Transoxiana the
Sdmanid power, represented by Nasr II and his son Nuh, was
still at its height, and the literary revival of which
TheSamanids. . . '3 . .
their Court was the centre continued in full vigour. But it must not be supposed, as has sometimes been done, that the encouragement of Persian literature for which these princes are so remarkable indicated any tendency or desire on their part to repress or restrict the use of the Arabic language. Abundant evidence of their liberal patronage of Arabic letters is afforded by the entire fourth volume of the Yatlmatud Dahr^ the celebrated Arabic anthology of Abu Mansur 'Abdu' 1-Malik ath-Tha'alibl of Nfshapur (b. A.D. 961, d. A.D. 1038). The substance of this portion of his work has been rendered accessible to the European reader by M. A. C. Barbier de Meynard in two articles published in the Journal Asiatique for Feb.-March, 1853 (PP- I^9~239)> an^ March-April, 1854 (pp. 291-361), under the title "Tableau litteraire du Khorassan et de la Transoxiane au quatrieme siecle de 1'Hegire"; but one passage of the original work (Damascus ed., vol. iv, pp. 33-4) so strongly emphasises this point that it is here given in translation: —
" Bukhara was, under the Samanid rule, the Focus of Splendour,
the Shrine of Empire, the Meeting-place of the most unique
intellects of the Age, the Horizon of the literary stars
Literary spien- of the World, and the Fair of the greatest scholars of
d°Uun°def the "* the Peri°d- Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Musa al-Musawi
Samanids. related to me as follows. ' My father Abu'l- Hasan
received an invitation to Bukhara in the days of the
Amir-i-Sa'id [Nasr II b. Ahmad, reigned A.D. 913-942], and there
were gathered together the most remarkable of its men of letters,
such as Abu'l- Hasan al-Lahh.'im, Abu Muhammad b. Matran, Abu
Ja'far b. al- 'Abbas b. al-Hasan, Abu Muhammad b. Abu 'th-Thiyab,
Abu'n-Nasr al-Harthami, Abu Nasr adh-Dharifi, Rija b. al-Walid
al-Isbahani, 'All b. Hariin ash-Shaybani, Abu Ishaq al-Farsi, Abu'l-
Qasim ad-Dinawari, Abu 'Ali az-Zawzani, and others belonging to
366 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
the same class.1 And when these were settled in familiar conver- sation one would engage with another in plucking the fringes of some discussion, each offering to the other fragrant flowers of dialectic, and pursuing the perfumes of Culture, and letting fall in succession necklaces of pearls, and blowing on magical knots.7 And my father said to me, " O my son, this is a notable and red- letter day : make it an epoch as regards the assembling of the standards of talent and the most incomparable scholars of the age, and remember it, when I am gone, amongst the great occasions of the period and the notable moments of thy life. For I scarcely think that in the lapse of the years thou wilt see the like of these met together." And so it was, for never again was my eye brightened with the sight of such a gathering.' "
Amongst the men of learning and letters who died during
these fourteen years were the following : Abu'l-Hasan
al-Ash'arl (t A.D. 935), the chief promoter or
years Ago.932-e the orthodox reaction, to whom most justly might
the Mu'tazilites to whom he owed his education
apply the words of the poet : —
U'alhmuhu'r- nmdyala kulla yawmin, Fa-lamma 'shtadda sd'iduhu, ramd-ni !
" I taught him daily how to use the bow, And when his arm grew strong he laid me low ! "
Ibn Durayd, the philologist (t A.D. 934), author of the Arabic lexicon entitled the Jamhara. Sa'id b. 'al-Bafriq, better known as Eutychius (t A.D. 929), the Christian patriarch of Alexandria, author of a well-known history. Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi of Cordova (t A.D. 940), poet and historian.
1 Literal!}', '' and such as were strung on their string," the simile being derived from a necklace of pearls.
2 Eloquence is called by the Muslims " sihr-i-haldl," " lawful Magic." Concerning " blowing on knots," see the commentaries on Sura cxiii of the Qur'an. " This " (blowing on knots as a magical practice), says Sale, "was a common practice in former days : what they call in France nouer I'aiguillette, and the knots which the wizards in the northern parts tie, when they sell mariners a wind (if the stories told of them be true), are also relics of the same superstition."
REIGN OF AL-MUTI1 367
Ai-KuHnf (or Kulaynf, t A.D. 939), a celebrated theologian of the Sh^a, author of the KAfL The physicians Sindn b. Thdbit b. Qurra (t A.D. 942), his son Ibrahim (t A.D. 947), and 'Ubaydu'llah b. Jibn'l b. B6kht-Yishu< (t A.D. 941). The theologian al-Maturidf (t A.D. 944) ; Ibn Serapion (t circ. A.D. 945), the author of the very interesting descrip- tion of Baghdad published and translated in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society by Mr. Guy le Strange in 1895 ; the historian as-SuH (t A.D. 946), a converted Magian of Gurgdn ; and the Sufi saint ash-ShibH (d. A.D. 946) of KhurdsAn, the disciple of Junayd of Baghdad, and fellow-student of Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj. For religious manifestations this period was not remarkable : the Carmathians, as has been already noted, discouraged by the scandals connected with their false Mahdi Ibn Abf ZakariyyA, were remarkably quiet : their eminent general Abu Tahir al-Jannabf died in A.D. 944 : the power of the Fdtimid Caliphs was seriously checked in North Africa ; r and a few years later (A.D. 950) we find the Black Stone restored to Mecca and Carmathian soldiers in the service of the Buwayhid prince Mu'izzu'd-Dawla.
We now come to the long reign of al-Mutf (A.D.
946-974), during which the general political conditions in
Persia underwent little change, the Saminids still
aiaMPut?' (A°D. holding the north and north-east, the Ziyarids the
Caspian provinces, and the House of Buwayh
the south and (save in name) Baghdad, where, under the title
of Amlrul-Umara^ they were practically supreme. During
the last decade of this period the FAtimid anti-Caliph al-
Mu'izz Abu Tamfm Ma'add obtained possession of Egypt,
and transferred his capital from Mahdiyya to Cairo, which
thenceforward till the extinction of the dynasty in A.D. 1171
remained the centre of their power. About the same time
a quarrel arose between them and their former allies the
1 See de Goeje's Utmoirc surles Carmathcs, &c. (Leyden, 1886), pp. 142-3.
368 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
Carmathians, who about A.D. 971 even allied themselves with the 'Abbasids.1
Turning once more to the world of literature and science,
we may note the following events. In A.D. 950 died Abu
Nasr al-FdrabL the greatest philosopher of Islam
Literary mani- . ,. ' A . . .
festations of this before Avicenna, and, curiously enough, of Turkish
period. }
origin.2 About the same time al-Istakhrithe geographer produced his recension ofa]^B^Hftirs work, and the Persian sea-captain Buzurg b. Shahriydr of Rdmhurmuz wrote in Arabic, from his own recollections and information derived from other travellers, his curious work on the Marueh of India. The death of Rudagf, generally regarded as the father of Persian poetry, and the birth of another Persian poet, Kisd'f, also happened at this time. About A.D. 956 died the great historian al-Mas'udi, of Arab extraction and alleged Mu'ta-
zilite leanings, of whose voluminous writings
Al-Mas'udi. , "I? .
the Kitabu t-lanbin wa l-lshraf is accessible to students in the original Arabic, and the better known Muruju 'dh-Dhahab both in the original and in the French translation of MM. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille. Narshakhf, the historian of Bukhdrd (preserved to us only in the later Persian translation of al-Qubawf made about A.D. 1128) died in 'A.D. 959. Gushyar, the astronomer ot Gflan, flourished about the same time ; as did also the Christian physician 'Isi b. *AH, who compiled a Biography of Oculists. In A.D. 961 was born Abu Mansiir 'Abdu'l- Malik ath-Tha'alibf, the author of the Yatimatud-Dahr
cited above, as well as of many other important
Persia^1 'wl'ion an<^ interesting works, at Nfshipiir. About three
'°f history"'1'* years later the minister of Mansiir I the Sdma-
nid, Abu 'All Muhammad al-Bal'amf, at the com-
1 De Goeje, op. laud., pp. 176 and 183 el seqq.
3 See Moritz Steinschneider's Al-Farabi des arabischen Philosophen Leben und Schriften in vol. xiii of the Mem. de I'Acad. de St. P. ; Carra de Vaux's Avicenne, pp. 91 et seqq, &c.
AL-MUTANABB! 369
mand of his royal master, translated into Persian in an abridged form the great history of Taban, which is one of the earliest important prose works in Persian which have come down to us. This version has been published in a French translation by Dubeux and Zotenberg (Paris, 1867-1874), and the number ot excellent and carefully written old MSS. of it which exist in our public libraries show in what high esteem it was held.
A few years later (A.D. 965) died al-Mutanabbf, who,
though disparaged by some European scholars, is generally
regarded by all Arabic-speaking people as the
Al-Mutanabbi. } -• ,. ,,
greatest poet or their race. Von Hammer calls him, in the translation of his poems which he published at Vienna in 1823, " der grosste Arabische Dichter " ; and Jules Mohl (Journal Asiatique for 1859, sei"ies v> vol. 14, pp. 36-7) has the following most sensible remarks on him : —
" Quant au rang que chaque poete doit occuper dans sa litterature nationale, il n'appartient qu'a sa propre nation de le lui assignor, et s'il le garde pendant des siecles, comme Motanabbi 1'a garde, il ne nous reste qu'a accepter 1'opinion de ses juges naturels, dont la decision, apres les discussions prolongees et passionnees, parait etre que Motanabbi, malgre ses defauts et son inegalite, est le meilleur representant du gout et des sentiments des Arabes musulmans, comme les auteurs des Moallakat sont les representants les plus fideles des sentiments des Arabes du desert."
The influence of al-Mutanabb{ and one or two other Arabic poets on the early developments of Persian poetry was also, as has been pointed out by Kazimirski in his edition and transla- tion of the Dfwan of Minuchihrf (Paris, 1886, pp. 143 and 316), very great, and for this reason alone his works ought to be read by every serious student of the origins of Persian poetry. The far-fetched conceits and rhetorical figures which abound in his verses will hardly appeal to many European readers as they do to the poet's countrymen, and at times he gives expression to ideas which to our taste are grossly unpoetical ; *
1 For a striking instance of this see Dieterici's edition of his Diwdn (Berlin, 1861), p. 8, verse 7.
-25
3/0 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
>
others of his verses, however, breathe the old Bedouin spirit, amongst these being the verse which, as Ibn Khallikan says,1 "caused his death." For, as he was returning from Persia with a large sum of money which had been bestowed on him by the Buwayhid prince 'Adudu'd-Dawla, he was attacked near Kura by Arabs of the tribe of Asad. Being worsted in the combat, he was preparing to take to flight when his slave cried to him : " Let it never be said that you fled from the combat, you who are the author of this verse : —
' I am known to the horse-troop, the night and the desert's expanse, Not more to the paper and pen than the sword and the lance ! ' "
So al-Mutanabbf turned again to the combat and met his death like a true son of the desert. The Arab pride of race which animated him is shown by the following incident. One day a number of learned men 2 were conversing in the presence of that illustrious prince Sayfu'd-Dawla, and the grammarian Ibn Khalawayh was expressing his views on some point of Arabic philology, when al-Mutanabbf interrupted him, saying, " Silence, fellow ! What hast thou to do with Arabic, thou who art a Persian of Khuzistan ? "
More admirable, according to Western taste, than al- Mutanabbi, though less celebrated, was his contemporary Abu
Firas, the cousin of the above-mentioned prince AHimdlmf Sayfu'd-Dawla, to whose « circle " also (along with
a galaxy of less famous poets like an-Nam{, an- Nashf, az-Zahf, ar-RafFa4 and al-Babbagha) he belonged. Von Kremer 3 esteems him very highly, and concludes his notice of him in these words : —
"Thus is Abu Firas the picture of the stirring times in which he lived : in him once again the old, proud, warlike spirit of antiquity was re-incarnated, only the finer feelings being the outcome of the
1 See de Slane's translation, vol. i, pp. 105-6. • Ibid., p. 109.
s Culturgeschichte, vol. ii, pp. 381-6.
AL-MUTANABBt'S CONTEMPORARIES 371
later culture. The inner history of Arabic poetry ought, indeed, to conclude with him, had not a greater and more lofty genius' stepped forth, who independently gave a new and important development to the philosophical and speculative turn of thought first introduced by Abu'l-'Atahiya."
Abu Firas was killed in battle in A.D. 968, a year remarkable also for the birth of one of the great mystical poets of Persia, Abu Sa'fd b. Abi'l-Khayr, the author of a cele- brated collection of quatrains. About the same time died Abu'I-Faraj of Isfahan, the compiler ot that vast thesaurus of Arabic verse known as the Kit&bul- Aghanl or " Book of Songs," a work which in tne Cairo edition comprises twenty volumes. He also was of Arab, and, as it is asserted, of Umayyad descent, and belonged to the " circle " of Sayfu'd-Dawla. About A.D. 07 1 died the poet Ibn Kushdiim, remarkable
Ibu Kushajim ?' j- i , . ,• , • • ...
for his Indian descent and the high position which
he held in the Carmathian government ; 2 and in the same year
was born the poet Abu'1-Fath al-Bustf, one of the
AsUUBu^ti'h earliest literary protJgh of the Ghaznawf dynasty.
Finally, the last year of the Caliphate of al-Mud'
is notable for the birth of two very eminent men, the poet
AbuVAla al-Ma'arrf and al-Bfrunf.
We come now to the Caliphate of at-Td'f (A.D. 974-991), whose contemporaries were the Samanid Nuh II b. Mansiir (A.D. 976-997) in Khurasan, Qabus b. Washmgir the Ziy^rid (A-°- 976-1012) in Tabaristan, 'Adudu'd-Dawla in Fars, Kirman, Ahwaz, and Persuamae th's Southern Persia, and in Egypt the Fatimid Anti- Caliph al-'AzIz Abu Mansur Nazar (A.D. 975- 996). About the same time there rose into prominence Sabuktagfn (A.D. 976-997), " the true founder of the Ghaz- nawi dynasty," as Stanley Lane-Poole says, whose son Mahmud achieved so mighty a renown as a warrior and champion
1 I.e., Abu'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, b. A.D. 973. * See de Goeje's Carmathcs, pp. 151-2.
372
of Islam. This Sabuktagin was originally one of the Turkish slaves of Alptagm, himself in turn one of the Turkish slaves and favourites of 'Abdu'l-Malik the Samanid ; and he enlarged the little kingdom founded by his predecessors Alptagin and his two sons Ishaq and Balkatagin in the fastnesses of the Sulayman Mountains by the capture of Pi'shawar from the Rajputs, and by the acquisition of the government of Khurasan in A.D. 994 under the nominal suzerainty of the Samanids.
In the literary history of this period we have to notice first the death of the Persian poet Daqiqi (A.D. 975), who began the
composition of the Shahndma which was after- Literary history . . . of this period.— wards so gloriously completed by r irdawsf. About
Daqiqi. . ' . .
a year later was composed a very important Arabic work, now rendered accessible to all scholars in the excellent edition of Van Vloten (Leyden, 1895) named " the Keys of the Sciences " (Mafdtlhul-lUlkm\ by Abu 'Abdi'llah Muhammad
b. Ahmad b. Yusuf al-Khwarazmi, which, in a The •uirimtlkul~ small compass, gives a conspectus of the sciences,
both indigenous and foreign, known to the Muslims of that time, together with their terminology. About
the same time Ibn Hawqal J re-edited al-IstakhrTs,
Ibn-Hawqal. ... ." — — -r-f -—•
recension or the geography composed by Abu
Zayd al-Balkhi, a pupil of the philosopher at-3CindI. About
a year later (A.D. 978) died the Arabic gram-
At-Si'rafi. . • o/ /-/ i i TI
manan as-birari, who was not only a rersian
but the son of a Zoroastrian named Bihzad. In A.D. 980, was
born the great philosopher and physician Abu 'AH
b. Sfna (Avicenna), also a Persian. A year later died
a mystic of some note, Abu 'Abdi'llah Muhammad b.
Khaftf of Shiraz. In A.D. 982 died Ibrahim b. Hilal as-Sabf,
ibn Khafif the one of the heathen of Hararn, whose great
mystic.-A?-Sabi. history of tne Buwayhids, entitled Kit&bu't-TAj
(" the Book of the Crown "), has unfortunately not come
I * This forms the second volume of de Goeje's Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum (Leyden, 1873). <v
q^" **"* ~-^~
AL-MUTANABB/'S CONTEMPORARIES 373
down to us. This work was written in the highly artificial and rhetorical style which was now coming into fashion, and replacing the simple, unvarnished narratives of the earlier historians, and which, as Brockelmann points out, had a great influence on the formation of the prose style of the more ambitious Persian writers. Another writer of the same type, Ibn Nubata the Syrian, Court preacher to
Ibn Nubata. J J
Sayfu'd-Dawla, who died in A.D. 984, is still read in the East, where some of his writings have been
printed. The Fatimid poet Tamfm b. al-Mu'izz TanZizz al~ (t A.D. 984), brother of the Anti-Caliph al-'Azfz,
in whose honour he composed panegyrics, deserves mention. The traveller and geographer al-Maqdisf, or
al-Muqaddasf, composed his important work,
Al-Muqaddasi. . , . . . , ,„ . . ... /••/-.,•>, „
entitled Amanu t-laqaslmjl ma'rifatt l-Aqalim r in
A.D. 985, a work which has received the highest tributes of
praise from several eminent Orientalists.3 A year later was
Ai-Qushayri. born al-Qushayrf, the author of an important
treatise on Sufiism. About A.D. 988 was composed the
u „., . , Fihrist.3 or "Index," one of the most important
The Filirtst.
sources of knowledge for the literary and religious history of the early Muslim period, and even for the more ancient times which preceded it, whereof the author, Abu'l Faraj Mu- hammad b. Ishaq an-Nadim al-Warraq al-Baghddd{, died some six years later. Of his valuable work Brockelmann speaks as follows :4 " His book, which he named simply the Fihristy /'.*., * Index,'was intended to include all books in the Arabic language available in his time, whether original compositions or trans- lations. After an introduction on the different kinds of scripts, he deals with the revealed books of the different religions, then
1 This forms the thjrd volume of de Goeje's Bibl. Geogr. Arab. (Leyden,
1877).
9 See Von Kremer's Culturgeschichte, vol. ii, pp. 429-433, where a long extract from his Preface is translated.
3 Edited with copious notes by Fliigel (Leipzig, 1871).
* Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., p. in.
374 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
with each individual branch of Literature, from the Qur'an and the writings connected therewith down to the Occult Sciences. In each section he groups the individual writers in approxi- mately chronological order, and communicates what is known to him of their lives and works. To this book we owe many valuable data for the history of the civilisation and literature, not only of the Arabs, but generally of the whole of the Nearer East." About the same time (A.D. 088) was
History of Qum. i- 1 1 .• •
composed one of the earliest local histories or Persia, a monograph on the city of Qum, which is preserved in a Persian translation (made in A.D. H28),1 though the Arabic original is lost. The work was dedicated to that great
patron of literature the Sdhib Isma'il b. 'Abbad
Tma<iib .--AbSd. (b- A-D- 936> d- 995), who was minister to the two Buwayhid rulers Mu'ayyidu'd-Dawla and Fakhru'd- Dawla, and who was himself the author ot a copious Arabic dictionary called the Muhlt (" Comprehensive "), still partly, preserved, and of a treatise on Prosody called the Iqnd1 (" Satis- faction "), of which a fine MS., dated A.M. 559 (= A.D. 1164), formerly in the possession of M. Schefer, is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. Of the crowd of poets and men of letters whom the Sahib's generosity drew round him we read in ath-Tha'alibfs Yatlmatud-Dahr (vol. iii, pp. 31 ft seqq.} ; to his unparalleled generosity all writers bear testimony, so that the contemporary poet Abu Sa'Id ar-Rustam{ exclaims in a threnody which he composed on his patron's death : 2 " God hath willed that the hopes of the needy and the gifts of the generous should perish by the death of Ibn 'Abbad, and that they should never meet again till the day of resurrection." His love of books was such that, being invited by the Samanid King Nuh II b. Mansur to become his prime minister, he excused himself on this ground, amongst others,
1 The MS. is in the British Museum, OR. 3391.
a See the interesting notice of the Sahib given by Ibn Khallikan (de plane's translation, vol. i, p. 216).
375
that four hundred camels would be required for the transport of his library alone.1 Poet, philologist, patron of letters, statesman and wit, the Sahib stands out as one of the brightest ornaments of that liberal and enlightened Buwayhid dynasty of which, unfortunately, our knowledge is so much less complete than we could desire.
Amongst other men of letters and science belonging to this period, we can only mention the great ShI'ite theologian Ibn Babawayh (t A.D. 99 1),2 whose work on jurispru- dence called Kitabu man la yahduruhu l-faqih (" the Book of him who hath no lawyer at hand ") is still of high authority in Persia ; the physician 'AH b. 'Abbds al-Majiisi (t A.D. QQ4),3 whose father was, as his name
Al-Majusi. > .
implies, an adherent of the Zoroastnan faith ; the
philologist al-Mubarrad, author of the celebrated Kamil ; 4 and
last, but not least, the great Avicenna (Abu 'AH b.
SIna), philosopher, physician, and statesman (t
A.D. 1037), who at this time, being only about seventeen years
of age, established his medical reputation by curing the
Samanid ruler Nuh II b. Mansur, whose favour and protection*
he thus secured. Of this great man we shall have more to say
in a subsequent chapter.
We have now brought our history to the end of the tenth century of our era, at which point we may pause to survey, before proceeding further, the scientific and literary Review ^f this achievements of this period, its religious and philo- sophical movements, and more particularly the earliest developments of that revival of the Persian national literature which now, having once been inaugurated, goes forwards with ever-increasing force. This period which we are discussing began, as we have seen, with a Turkish ascendancy fraught with peril alike to the Caliphate and to the civilisation
1 Ibid., p. 215, and the Yatima, vol. Hi, pp. 35-6.
2 Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litt^ vol. i, p. 187.
3 Jbid., p. 236. « Edited by Dr. W. Wright, Leipzig, 1864.
376 DECLINE OF THE CALIPHATE
of Isldm, and ended with the sudden rise to almost unlimited power of another Turk, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (succeeded to the throne, A.D. 998 ; died A.D. 1030), who, MGhTzna.°f beginning with the small kingdom inherited from his father Sabuktagin, overthrew the tottering House of Sdmdn ; invaded India in twelve separate campaigns (A.D. 1001-1024), wherein he slew innumerable "idolaters," destroyed many idol-temples, and permanently annexed the Panjab ; reduced Ghur (A.D. 1012) ; annexed Transoxiana (A.D. 1016), and struck a death-blow at the House of Buwayh, from whom he wrested Isfahan. But between these two extremes we see Persia, ever more detached from the direct control of the Caliph, divided between several noble and enlightened dynasties of Persian extraction, the Houses of Sdmdn, Buwayh, and Ziyar, free once more to develop on its own lines and to produce in its native tongue a splendid and extensive literature.
CHAPTER XI
THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE AND SCIENCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GHAZNAwi PERIOD
IT seems desirable that at this point, standing, as it were, on the threshold of modern Persian literature, we should consider in somewhat greater detail the state of development attained by the Science and Literature of the Muslims, which were the common heritage of all those nations who had embraced Islim. Persian is often spoken of as a very easy language, and this is true, so far as the language itself is concerned ; but to be a good Persian scholar is very difficult, since it involves a thorough familiarity, not only with the Qu'rdn, the Traditions of the Prophet, and the ancient Persian legends, but with the whole scientific and literary point of view which prevailed in the Muhammadan East. This applies more particularly to those writers who lived before the terrible devastation wrought by the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century, for never after this did the literature and science of the Muslims reach their old level, owing to the wholesale massacres and acts ot incendiarism perpetrated by these hateful savages. The scientific outlook of the later writers is much more circum- scribed ; the Arabic language ceased to be generally used throughout the realms of Islam ; and, owing to the destruction of Baghdad and the Caliphate, there was no longer a metropolis
377
378 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
of Culture and Learning to co-ordinate, concentrate, and combine the intellectual efforts of the Muslim world.
We possess fortunately three admirable sources of informa- tion on the range and scope of the literature and science of Islam at the period (/.*., the end of the tenth century of our era) of which we are speaking, viz. : —
(1) The Treatises of the Ikhwdnus-Safd, or "Brethren of Purity," that society of encyclopaedists and philosophers of which we have already spoken in the last chapter.
(2) The Mafdtihu'l-'Uliim, or " Keys of the Sciences," composed in A.D. 976 by Abu 'Abdi'llah Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Katib (" the Scribe") of Khwarazm, and recently edited (Leyden, 1895) by Van Vloten.
(3) The Fihrist, or "Index," of Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad b. Ishaq al-Warraq (" the Bookseller " or " Copyist ") of Baghdad, better known as Ibn Abi Ya'qub an-Nadim, composed in A.D. 988, and edited by Fliigel in 1871-2.
All these works are written in Arabic, and are of an essentially encyclopaedic character. The two first deal more particularly with Philosophy and Science, and the third with Literature and " Culturgeschichte." I propose to discuss them in the order given above, and to give some account of their scope and contents.
I. The Treatises of the Ithwdnu's-Safei.
This society of encyclopaedists flourished at Basra in the latter half of the tenth century of our era, and included, amongst the five or six of its members whose names have come down to us, men from Bust in the far east of Persia, Zanjan in the north-west of the same country, and Jerusalem ; while, of the remaining three, one was certainly Persian, and the other two were probably of Arab extraction.1 This society summed up the philosophical and scientific learning of the time in a series of fifty-one anonymous tracts, written in a popular style,
* For their names, see Brockelmann's Gesch, d. Arab. Litt., vol. l, pp. 213-214.
THE IKHWANU S-SAFA 379
of which a complete edition was printed at Bombay in four volumes, comprising some 1,134 pages, in A.H. 1305-6 (A.D. 1887-9). Complete or partial translations of these tracts (Rasa'il} exist in several other Eastern languages, viz., Persian (lith. Bombay, A.D. 1884), Hindustani, and Turkish. For a knowledge of their contents and an exposition of their teach- ings we are indebted chiefly to the learned and indefatigable Dr. Friedrich Dieterici of Berlin, who published between 1858 and 1895 seventeen valuable monographs (including six texts) on Arabian Philosophy in the ninth and tenth centuries of our era, with especial reference to the Ikhwanus-Safa. The fifty- one tracts published by this fraternity covered the whole ground of Philosophy, as understood by its members, pretty exhaustively. But of course the aspirant after philosophical knowledge was supposed to be already well grounded in the ordinary subjects of study, which are thus enumerated by Dieterici * : —
I. Mundane Studies.
1. Reading and Writing.
2. Lexicography and Grammar.
3. Calculation and Computation.
4. Prosody and the Poetic Art.
5. The Science of Omens and Portents.
6. The Science of Magic, Amulets, Alchemy, and Legerdemain.
7. Trades and Crafts.
8. Buying and Selling, Commerce, Agriculture, and Cattle-farming.
9. Biography and Narrative.
II. Religious Studies.
1. Knowledge of the Scripture (i.e., the Qur'dri).
2. Exegesis of the Scripture.
3. The Science of Tradition.
4. Jurisprudence.
5. The Commemoration of God, Admonition, the Ascetic Life, Mysticism (Sufiism), and the Ecstatic or Beatific Vision.
The philosophic studies properly so called include —
1 Einleitung und Makrokosmos (Leipzig, 1876), pp. 124 et scqq., and the preface to the text of the Abhandluiigcit dcr Ichwiiu is Safd (Leipzig, 1886), pp. vi-vii.
380 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
III. Philosophic Studies.
(i) Mathematics, Logic, &c. (ar-Riyddiyydi iva'l-Mantiqiyydt = r<i irpoTraiSevTiKa KOI rd \oyiicci), discussed in Tracts i-xiii (= vol. i), which treat of such things as Number, Geometry, Astronomy, Geography, Music, Arithmetical and Geometrical Relation, Arts and Crafts, Diversity of Human Character, the haaywyrj, the Categories, the
lp/n)ve.VTiKa, and the ava\VTiKa.
(ii) Natural Science and Anthropology (at-Tabi'iyydt wa'l-Insdniyydt = rd QVVIKO. KCU rd di^pwiroXoyiKa), discussed in Tracts xiv-xxx (= vol. ii), which treat of Matter, Form, Space, Time, and Motion ; Cosmogony ; Production, Destruction, and the Elements ; Meteoro- logy ; Mineralogy ; the Essence of Nature and its Manifestations ; Botany ; Zoology ; Anatomy and Anthropology ; Sense-perceptions ; Embryology ; Man as the Microcosm ; the Development of the Soul (Psychical Evolution) ; Body and Soul ; the true nature of Psychical and Physical Pain and Pleasure ; Diversity of Languages (Philo- logy).
(iii) Pyschology (an-Nafsdniyydt = r& T^VXIKO), discussed in Tracts xxxi-xl (= vol. iii), which treat of the Understanding, the World- Soul, &c.
(iv) Theology (al-Ildhiyydt = TO. OtoXoyiicd), discussed in Tracts xli-li, which treat of the ideals and methods of the Ikhwdnu's-Safd ; the Esoteric Doctrine of Islam ; the Ordering of the Spirit World ; the Occult Sciences.
The Ikhwdnu's-Safd were essentially synthetical and en- cyclopaedic, seeking, as Dieterici says (Makrokosmos, p. iv), "to correlate all the materials of knowledge, so far as these had reached them ; and to construct a synthetic view of the material and spiritual worlds which would guarantee an answer to all questions, conformable to the standpoint of the Culture of that time." In general the topics discussed by them may be divided, according to Dieterici's plan, into —
(i) The Macrocosm, or the Development of the Universe as the Evolution of Plurality out of Unity, an Evolution by Emanation from God through Intelligence, Soul, Primal Matter, Secondary Matter, the World, Nature, and the Elements to the final Products, or "Threefold Progeny," i.e., the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms.
(ii) The Microcosm (Man), or the Return (" Remanatio ") from Plurality to Unity.
THE IKHWANU S-SAFA 381
The general character of their system was a " combination of Semitic Monotheism with Neo-Platonism," so that in a sense Philo-Judaeus may, I suppose, be regarded as their prototype. To this synthesis they were impelled, as Dieterici implies (Makrokosmos, pp. 86-88), by a conviction of the unity of all truth, religious, philosophical, and scientific. Co-ordi- nating all the sciences known to them with this view and for .this object, they studied each not only for its own sake, but in its relation to Truth as a whole, and endeavoured to embody their conceptions in an intelligible, attractive, and even popular form, to which end they made extensive use (as in their celebrated apologue of the Beasts and Man] of simile, allegory, and parable. In their prehistoric and scientific conceptions they were most influenced by Aristotle as regards Logic and Natural Science, by the Neo-Pythagoreans and Neo-Platonists in their theories of Numbers and Emanations, by Ptolemy in their ideas of Natural History, and by Galen in Anthropology and Medicine, the whole synthesis being in- formed by a strong Pantheistic Idealism.1 They believed that perfection was to be reached by a combination of the Greek Philosophy with the Arabian Religious Law.2 They were the successors of al-Kindi and al-Farabf, and the predecessors of the Great Avicenna, with whom, as Dieterici obsetyes,3 " the development of Philosophy in the East came to an end." From the East this system, the so-called "Arabian Philosophy," passed to the Moors in Spain ; whence, after undergoing further development at the hands of Averroes (Ibn Rushd, t A.D. 1135), it became diffused in Europe, and gave rise to the Christian Scholastic Philosophy, to which, according to Dieterici,4 it rendered the greatest service in restoring the Aristotelian element, which, in the earlier systems of Christian philosophy, had been almost ousted by the Neo-Platonist element.
1 Dieterici, Makrokosmos, pp. 138-140.
' Ibid., p. 146. 3 ibid., p. 159. < Ibid., p. 159.
382 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
II. The MafitlMl-'Ulhm.
Turning now to the Mafatlhul-iUlum, we find the sciences primarily divided into two great groups, the indigenous or Arabian, and the exotic, which are for the most part Greek or Persian.
i. The Indigenous Sciences.
1. Jurisprudence (fiqh), discussed in n sections, including First Principles (usul), and Applications (furu'), such as Legal Purity ; Prayer ; Fasting ; Alms ; Pilgrimage ; Buying and Selling ; Marriage ; Homicide, Wounding, Retaliation, Compensation, and Blood-wit, &c.
2. Scholastic Philosophy (kaldm), discussed in 7 sections, in- cluding its subject-matter ; the various schools and sects of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Gentiles (Persians, Indians, Chaldaeans, Manichceans, Marcionites, Bardesanians, Mazdakites, Sophists, &c.) ; Arabian heathenism, and the First Principles of Religion discussed and established by this science.
3. Grammar (nahw), discussed in 12 sections.
4. The Secretarial Art (kitdbat), discussed in 8 sections ; including explanations of all the technical terms employed in the various Government offices.
5. Prosody ('arud) and the Poetic Art (shi'r), discussed in 5 sections.
6. History (akhbdr), discussed in 9 sections ; especially the history of Ancient Persia, Muhammadan history, pre-Muhammadan history of Arabia, especially Yaman, and the history of Greece and Rome. ^
ii. The Exotic Sciences.
7. Philosophy (falsa fa), discussed in 3 sections, including its sub- divisions and terminology ; the derivation of the word (correctly explained from the Greek) ; and the proper position in relation to it of Logic (inan[iq), the Natural Sciences (Medicine, Meteorology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, and Alchemy), and the Mathematical Sciences, Geometry, Astronomy, Music, &c.).
8. Logic (mantiq), discussed in 9 sections.
9. Medicine (tibb), discussed in 8 sections, including Anatomy, Pathology, -Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Diet, Weights and Measures, &c.
10. Arithmetic (arithmdtiqi, 'ilmu'l-'adad, hisdb), discussed in 5 sections, including the elements of Algebra.
. — ii. Geometry (handasa, jumetriya), discussed in 4 sections.
-V- 12. Astronomy ('ilmu'n-nujiim), discussed in 4 sections, treating
DOCTOR
THE FiHRis'JARO 6W
of the names of the Planets and Fixed Stars ; the composition of the Universe according to the Ptolemaic system ; Judicial Astrology ; and the instruments and apparatus used by astronomers.
13. Music (musiqi), discussed in 3 sections ; including an account of the various musical instruments and their names, and musical notation and terminology.
- 14. Mechanics ('ilmtt'l-hiyal ; "the Science of Devices"), in 2 sections, including Hydrostatics.
15. Alchemy (kimiyd), in 3 sections, including an account of the apparatus, the substances, and the processes used by those who practice it.
III. The Fihrht.
The Fihristtor "Index," of Muhammad b. Ishdq an-Nadim is one of the most remarkable and valuable works in the Arabic language which has survived to our days. Manuscripts of it are rare, and more or less defective. Fliigel's edition is based on two Paris MSS. (of which the more ancient codex con- tains the first four of the ten MaqalAt or " Discourses " into which the book is divided, and the more modern, trans- cribed for de Slane in Constantinople, presumably from the MSS. numbered 1134 and 1135 in the Kupriilii-z&de' Library, the latter portion of the work, from the fifth section of the fifth discourse onwards) ; two Vienna MSS., both incorrect and incomplete ; the Leyden MS., which contains only Maqdlas vii-x ; and two Leyden fragments.1 Sprenger hazarded a conjecture that the work was in reality a Catalogue rahonne of some large library, but this view is rejected by Brockelmann.2
Be this as it may, I know of no Arabic book which inspires me at once with so much admiration for the author's enormous erudition, and so much sadness that sources of knowledge at once so numerous and so precious as were available when he wrote should, for the most part, have entirely perished. Of authors who are known to us only by a few small fragments,
1 See pp. xvi-xix of the Preface to Fliigel's edition. • Gesch. d. arab. Lift., vol. i, p. 147.
384 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
he enumerates dozens or scores of works, but even these are the fortunate few, for the majority are known to us only or chiefly by his notices. His preface is such a model of con- ciseness, such a pleasing contrast to the empty rhetoric which disfigures, as a rule, at any rate the opening pages of most later Arabic and Persian works, that I cannot forbear translating it here.
" Lord, help man by Thy Mercy to reach upwards beyond pre- liminaries to conclusions, and to win to the aim in view without prolixity of words ! And therefore have we limited Translation of ourselves to these words at the beginning of this our
Preface to the _. . . ., , .. ri, . .. . ,. . .
Fihrist. Book, seeing that they sufficiently indicate our object in compiling it, if it please God. Therefore we say (and in God do we seek help, and of Him do we pray a blessing on all His Prophets and His servants who are single-hearted in their allegiance to Him : and there is no strength and no power save in God, the Supreme, the Mighty) : — This is the Index of the books of all peoples of the Arabs and non-Arabs whereof somewhat exists in the language and script of the Arabs, on all branches of knowledge ; together with accounts of their compilers and the _classes of their authors, and the genealogies of these, the dates of their births, the extent of their lives, the times of their deaths, the location of their countries, and their virtues and vices, from the time when each science was first discovered until this our age, to wit the year three hundred and seventy-seven of the Flight (=» A.D. 987-8)."
The author then immediately proceeds to summarise the contents of his book in the following epitome : —
First Discourse, in three Sections.
Section i. Describing the languages of the different peoples,
Arab and non-Arab, the characteristics of their
Contents of the wrjtings, the varieties of their scripts, and the forms
Fihnst.
of their written character.
Section ii. On the names of the Books of the Law (i.e., the Scriptures) revealed to the different sects of Muslims (i.e., Jews, Christians, and Sabeans)* and the different sects of those who follow them.
1 Isldm means the submitting or resigning of one's self to God's will, and in the wider sense the term Muslim includes the faithful followers of
THE FIERI ST 385
Section in. Describing the Book "which falsehood approacheth not from before nor from behind, a Revelation from One Wise and Laudable " ; ' and the names of the books com- posed on the sciences connected therewith, with notices of the Readers, and the names of those who handed down their traditions, and the anomalies of their readings.
Second Discourse, in three Sections, on the Grammarians and Philologists.
Section i. On the Origin of Grammar, with accounts of the grammarians of the School of Basra, and the Stylists of the Arabs, and the names of their books.
Section ii. Account of the Grammarians and Philologists of the School of Kufa, and the names of their books.
Section Hi. Account of a school of Grammarians who strove to combine the views of the two schools (above mentioned), and the names of their books.
Third Discourse, in three sections, on History, Belles Lettres, Biography, and Genealogies.
Section i. Account of the Historians, Narrators, Genealogists, Biographers, and Chroniclers, and the names of their books.
Section ii. Account of the Kings, Secretaries, Preachers, Ambassadors, Chancellors, and Government Officials (who composed books), and the names of their books.
Section Hi. Account of the Courtiers, Favourites, Minstrels, Jesters, and Buffoons (who composed books), and the names of their books. Fourth Discourse, in two sections, on Poetry and Poets.
Section i. On the groups of the Heathen Poets, and such of the Muslim poets as reached back to the Pagan Period (of the Arabs), and of those who collected their diwdns, and the names of those who handed down their poems (till they were collected and edited).
Section ii. On the groups of the Muslim Poets, including the modem poets down to this our time.
each prophet recognised by the Muhammadans down to the close of his dispensation. Thus Abraham taught the faith of Islam, and Bilqis, Queen of Sheba, on her conversion, " becomes a Muslim with Solomon the son of David."
1 i.e., the Qur'an, whence (xli, 42) this phrase is taken.
26
386 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
Fifth Discourse, in five sections, on the Scholastic Philosophy and the School-men. Section i. On the origin of the Scholastic Philosophy, and of
the School-men of the Mu'tazilites and Murjites, and the
names of their books. Section ii. Account of the School-men of the Shi'ites, whether
Imamis, Zaydis, or other of the Extremists (Ghuldf) and
Isma'ilis, and the names of their books. Section Hi. On the School-men of the Predestinarians and the
Hashwiyya, and the names of their books. Section iv. Account of the School-men of the Kharijites, their
classes, and the names of their books. Section v. Account of the wandering mendicants, recluses,
devotees, and Sufis, who taught a scholastic philosophy
based on their fancies and reveries, and the names of
their books.
Sixth Discourse, in eight sections, on Jurisprudence, and the Jurisconsults and Traditionists. Section i. Account of Malik and his disciples, and the names
of their books. Section ii. Account of Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man and his disciples,
and the names of their books. Section Hi. Account of the Imam ash-Shafi'i and his disciples,
and the names of their books. Section iv. Account of Da'ud b. 'All . . b. Khalaf al-Isfahani
and his disciples, and the names of their books. Section v. Account of the Shi'ite Jurisconsults, and the names
of their books. Section vi. Account of the Jurisconsults who were at the same
time Traditionists and transmitters of Tradition, and the
names of their books. Section vii. Account of Abu Ja'far at-Tabari, and his disciples,
and the names of their books. Section viii. Account of the Kharijite Jurisconsults, and the
names of their books.
Seventh Discourse, in three sections, on Philosophy and the Ancient Sciences. Section i. Account of the Materialist Philosophers and the
Logicians, and the names of their books and the versions
and commentaries of these, alike such as still exist, and
such as are mentioned but are no longer extant, and such
as were extant but are now lost. Section ii. Account of the Mathematicians, Geometricians,
THE FIHRIST 387
Arithmeticians, Musicians, Accountants, and Astrono- mers, and the makers of [scientific] instruments, and the Mechanics and Engineers.
Section Hi. On the origins of Medicine, with accounts of the physicians amongst the Ancients and the Moderns, and the names of their books, with their versions and commentaries.
Eighth Discourse, in three sections, on Legends, Fables, Charms, Magic, and Conjuring.
Section i. Account of the Story-tellers, Saga-men and Artists, and the names of the books composed on Legends and Fables. Section ii. Account of the Charm-mongers, Conjurors and
Magicians, and the names of their books. Section Hi. On books composed on divers other topics,
whereof the authors and compilers are unknown. Ninth Discourse, in two sections, on Sects and Creeds.
Section i. Describing the Sects of the Harranian Chaldneans, called in our time Sabaeans, and the Sects of Dualists, whether Manichaeans, Bardesanians, Khurramis, Mar- cionites, Mazdakites, and others, and the names of their books.
Section ii. Describing sundry strange and curious sects, such as those of India and China, and others of other like peoples.
Tenth Discourse, containing accounts of the Alchemists and seekers after the Philosopher's Stone amongst the Ancient-and Modern Philosophers, and the names of their books.
Besides these three books there is another and earlier work, the Kitdbul-Ma^rif of Ibn Qutayba (t circ. A.D. 889), of which the text was published at Gottingen by the indefa- tigable Wustenfeld in 1850, which gives us a good idea of the historical and biographical knowledge deemed necessary for all who had any pretensions to be fairly well read. In this book the author treats of the following subjects : the Creation (pp. 6-10) ; Sacred History, giving a brief account of the Patriarchs and Prophets (including not only those mentioned in the Old Testament, but others, such as Hud and Salih, mentioned in the Qur'dn), and Christ (pp. 10-27) j Profane
388 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
History, including the chronology and racial divisions of man- kind, the names of the true believers amongst the Arabs before the Mission of the Prophet, the Genealogies of the Arabs (pp. 28-56) ; the Genealogy and Kinsfolk of the Prophet, including his wives, children, clients, and horses, the history of his Mission, wars, triumph, and death (pp. 56-83) ; the History of the Four Orthodox Caliphs (pp. 83-106), of 'AH's sons, of Zubayr, Talha, 'Abdu'r-Rahman b. <Awf, Sa'd b. Ab( Waqqas and other eminent Muslims of early times, concluding with a brief list of "the Hypocrites" (pp. 106-174) ; History of the Umayyads, and of the 'Abbasid Caliphs down to al-Mu'tamid, in whose time the author wrote (pp. 175—200) ; biographies of famous statesmen, officers, and governors of the Muham- madan Empire, and of notable rebels (pp. 201-215) ; biographies of the Tabi'-un or successors of the " Companions " of the Prophet (pp. 216-248) ; biographies of the chief doctors and teachers of Isldm, of the founders of its principal schools of thought, of the traditionists, "readers" of the Qur'ari, genealogists and historians, grammarians and transmitters of verse, &c., of the principal mosques, of the early conquests of the Muslims and other matters concerning them, and of the chief outbreaks of plague and pestilence (pp. 248-293) ; account of the great "Days" (*'.£., the famous battles) of the Arabs, of those amongst them whose names became a proverb, of their religions before the time of Islam, of the chief sects in Islam, and of the manner in which certain peoples (e.g.^ the Kurds and Jews) came by their names (pp. 293-304) ; and histories of the Kings of Yaman, Syria (Ghassanids), Hira, and Persia, from the time of Jamshid to the end of the Sdsanian dynasty (pp. 304-330).
It will be seen from what has been said above how wide a range of knowledge is required to enable the student of Muhammadan literature fully to understand and appreciate all the allusions which he will meet with even in the poets,
EQUIPMENT OF PERSIAN STUDENT 389
especially those who lived in the palmy days of the Caliphate. And apart from this general knowledge, and a thorough under- standing of the language (whether Persian or Arabic) which constitutes the vehicle of utterance, he must, in order to derive the fullest pleasure from the poetry of these nations, possess a considerable amount of technical knowledge, not only of Prosody and Grammar, but of the various branches of Rhetoric ^Ilmul-Mdi&nl wal-Bayan, " the Science of Ideas and their Expression ") and Euphuism (fllmul- "BadityF^ so that he may at once recognise and appreciate the various tropes, similes, metaphors, inuendos, hyperboles, antitheses, quotations, aetiologies, amphibologies, homonomies, anagrams, and the like, which he will come across at every turn, especially in the qafldas, or panegyrics, to which most of the older Persian poets devoted so large a portion of their energies and talents, for the reason that they were for the most part Court poets, and wrote not for the general public but for their patrons, on whose liberality they depended for their livelihood. This is why many of those poets, such as 'Unsurf, Farrukhf, Khaqdnf, Anwarf, Dhahfr of Faryab, and the like, whom the Persians reckon amongst their greatest, could never, no matter with what skill they might be translated, appeal to the European reader, whose sympathies will rather be won by the epic, lyric, didactic, mystic, satiric or pessimist poets, such as Firdawsl, Hafidh, Sa'df, Nasir-i-Khusraw, <Atrar, Jalalu'd-Dm Rumf, 'Ubayd-i-Zdkanf, and 'Umar Khayydm, each of whom, in a different way, appeals to some ground common to all mankind.
In spite of the excellent works on the Prosody and Rhetoric of the Persians by Gladwin, Riickert, Blochmann, and other scholars, I might perhaps have thought it desirable to speak at greater length on these subjects had it not been for the masterly Prolegomena prefixed by my lamented friend Mr. E. J. W. Gibb (whose death on December 5, 1901, after a short illness, at the early age of forty-four, has inflicted an incalculable loss
390 THE STATE OF MUSLIM LITERATURE
on Oriental scholarship) to the first volume of his great History of Ottoman Poetry (London : Luzac & Co., 1900). Nearly twenty years ago we spent several weeks together in London, studying Persian and Turkish, and cultivating the society of various educated and intelligent Muslims, chiefly Persians, who happened at that time to be resident in the metropolis. Of these the late Mfrza Muhammad Baqir of Bawanat in Fars, whose personality I attempted to depict in the Introductory Chapter of my Tear amongst the Persians (London : A. and C. Black, 1893), was beyond question the most talented and original. From that time till his death Gibb and I were in frequent communication, and the hours which I was able from time to time to spend with him in his study in London were amongst the happiest and most profitable of my life. Within the last few months it has been my sad duty to examine his books, manuscripts, and papers, to catalogue the rare and precious volumes which he had so sedulously sought out from the East, and to set in order the unpublished portions of the great work to which his life was devoted. High as was the opinion I had already formed of the first volume of his book, which alone has yet been published, I should never have realised the labour it had cost him, or the extent of his reading, his fine scholarship and his critical judgment, had I not obtained the insight into his work which this examination gave me ; and I should be happy to think that I could ever produce half so fine a work on Persian poetry as he has done on Turkish. The Prolegomena at least of this great book should be read by every student of Muhammadan Literature.
CHAPTER XII
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF THIS PERIOD
I. THE ISMA'ILIS AND CARMATHIANS, OR THE " SECT OF THE SEVEN."
THE religious and political position assumed by the ShPa, or " Faction " of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, has been already discussed at some length, together with the causes which rendered it specially attractive to the Persians. In this chapter we shall have to examine one of the developments of this school of thought, which, though at the present day of comparatively little importance, played a great part in the history of the Muhammadan world down to the Mongol Invasion in the thirteenth century, and to which, therefore, we shall have to refer repeatedly in the subsequent portion of this work.
The Shi'a agree generally in their veneration for 'AH and their rejection of his three predecessors, Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman, and in their recognition of the Imams of the House of 'AH as the chosen representatives of God, supernaturally gifted and divinely appointed leaders, whose right to the allegiance of the faithful is derived directly from Heaven, not from any election or agreement of the Church (Ijmd'-i-sunnat). Briefly they may be described as the supporters of the | principle of Divine Right as opposed to the principle of Democratic Election.
Further, as we have already seen, most of the ShI'ites
391
392 THE ISMAlLi SECT
(especially those of Persia) attached great importance to the fact that all their Imams subsequent to 'All (who was the Prophet's cousin) were descended also from Fatima (the Prophet's daughter), and hence were the direct and lineal descendants of the Prophet himself ; and to the alleged fact (see pp. 130-134 and 229 supra] that all the Imdms subsequent to al-Husayn (the third) were also the lineal descendants of the Sasanians, the old Royal Family of Persia.
There were, however, other sects of the ShJ'a (Kaysaniyya
and Zaydiyya) who recognised as Imams descendants not only
of al-Husayn's brother al-Hasan (Imams, that is to say, who
made no claim of descent from the House of Sasan) but of his
half-brother Muhammad Ibnu'l-Hanafiyya ("the son of the
Hanafite woman "), who were not children of Fitima,1 and
hence were not the direct descendants of the Prophet. These
sects, however, seem, as a rule, to have had comparatively
little hold in Persia save in Tabaristan (where, as we have
seen, a dynasty of "Zaydite" Imams flourished from A.D. 864
to 928), and need not further claim our attention, which must
rather be concentrated on the Imdmiyya, or Imamites proper,
and its two great branches, the " Sect of the Twelve " (Ithna-
lashariyya\ which prevails in Persia to-day, and the " Sect of
the Seven " (Sab'iyya) or Isma'ilis, with its various branches,
including the notorious Assassins (Maldhida^ or " heretics "par
excellence, as they were generally called by their opponents in
-. Persia), who will form the subject of a later chapter. The
I fourth and subsequent Imams of both these important branches
1 of the Sh{{a were descendants of al-Husayn, and, as has been
\already emphasised, enjoyed in the eyes of their followers the
Idouble prestige of representing at the same time the Prophetic
JHouse of Arabia and the Royal House of Persia.
1 Rashidu'd-Din Fadlu'llah says in the section of his great history (the Jdmi'u't-Tawdrikh), which deals with the Isma'ilis, that in Abu Muslim's time the descendants of 'Ali based their claim to the Caliphate " on the nobility of their descent from Fatima."
THE IMAM JSMA'IL 393
As far as the sixth Imam, Ja<far as-Sadiq (" the Veridical "), the great-grandson of al-Husayn, who died in A.H. 148 (A.D. 765), the Sects of the Seven and of the Twelve agree concerning the succession of their pontiffs, but here the agree- ment ceases. Ja'far originally nominated as his successor his eldest son Isma'fl, but afterwards, being displeased with him (because, as some assert, he was detected indulging himself in wine x), he revoked this nomination and designated another of his sons, Musa al-Kadhim (the seventh Imam of the Sect of the Twelve) as the next Imdm. Isma'il, as is generally asserted, died during his father's lifetime ; and, that no doubt might exist on this point, his body was publicly shown. But some of the Shi'a refused to withdraw their allegiance from him, alleging that the nomination could not be revoked, and that even if he did drink wine this was done deliberately and with a high purpose, to show that the " wine " forbidden by the Prophet's teaching was to be understood in an allegorical sense as spiritual pride, or the like — a view containing the germ of that extensive system of ta'wll, or Allegorical Interpretation, which was afterwards so greatly developed by the Sect of the Seven. Nor did Isma'il's death put an end to the sect which took its name from him, though differences arose amongst them ; some asserting that he was not really dead, or that he would return ; others, that since he died during his father's lifetime he never actually became Imdm, but that the nomination was made in order that the Imamate might be transmitted through him to his son Muhammad, whom, conse- quently, they regarded as the Seventh, Last, and Perfect lindm ; while others apparently regarded Ismail and his son Mu- hammad as identical, the latter being a return or re-incarnation of the former. Be this as it may, de Sacy is probably right in conjecturing2 that until the appearance of 'Abdu'lldh b.
1 This is stated, for example, in the Jdmi'u't-Tawdrikh mentioned in the last note. 8 Expost de la Religion des Druzcs, vol. i, p. Ixxii.
394 ^HE ISMA'/Lf SECT
Maymtin al-Qaddih (of whom we shall speak presently) about A.H. 260 T (A.D. 873-4), "the sect of the Isma'ilis had been merely an ordinary sect of the Shf'ites, distinguished from others by its recognition of Muhammad b. Isma'il as the last Imdm, and by its profession of that allegorical doctrine of which this Muhammad, or perhaps his grandfather Ja'far as-Sadiq, had been the author.
The genius which gave to this comparatively insignificant sect the first impulse towards that might and influence which it enjoyed for nearly four centuries came, as usual, from Persia, and in describing it I cannot do better than cite the words of those great Dutch scholars de Goeje and Dozy.
" It was," says the former," " an inveterate hatred against the Arabs and Islam which, towards the middle of the third century of the hijra, suggested to a certain '^hdii'llah b. Mavmuqr an oculist (Qadddh} by profession and a Persian by race, a project as amazing for the boldness and genius with which it was conceived as for the assurance and vigour with which it was carried out."
"To bind together3 in one association the conquered and the conquerors ; to combine in one secret society, wherein there should be several grades of initiation, the free-thinkers, who saw in religion only a curb for the common people, and the bigots of all sects ; to make use of the believers to bring about a reign of the unbelievers, and of the conquerors to overthrow the empire which themselves had founded ; to form for himself, in short, a party, numerous, compact, and schooled to obedience, which, when the moment was come, would give the throne, if not to himself, at least to his descendants ; such was the dominant idea of 'Abdu'llah b. Maymim ; an idea which, grotesque and audacious though it was, he realised with astonishing tact, incomparable skill, and a pro- found knowledge of the human heart."4
"To attain this end a conjunction of means was devised which may fairly be described as Satanic ; human weakness was attacked
1 Fihrist, p. 187. * Memoire sur les Cartnathes, Leyden, 1886.
3 Here speaks Dozy (Histoire des Musuhnans de I'Espagne, vol. iii, pp. 8 et seqq.), whom de Goeje cites in this place.
« Here the citation from Dozy ends, and what follows is in the words of de Goeje.
NOT SO BLACK AS PAINTED 395
on every side ; devoutness was offered to the believing ; liberty, ' not to say licence, to the reckless; philosophy to the strong- minded ; mystical hopes to the fanatical, and marvels to the common folk. So also a Messiah was presented to the Jews, a Paraclete to the Christians, a Mahdi to the Mussulmans, and, lastly, a philosophical system of theology to the votaries of Persian and Syrian paganism. And this system was put in movement with a calm resolve which excites our astonishment, and which, if we could forget the object, would merit our liveliest admiration."
The only criticism I would make on this luminous descrip- tion of the Isma'ili propaganda is that it hardly does justice to those, at any rate, by whose efforts the doctrines were taught, amidst a thousand dangers and difficulties ; to that host of mis- sionaries (ddl{, plural diSat] whose sincerity and self-abnegation at least are wholly admirable. And here I cannot refrain from quoting a passage from the recently published Histoire et Religion des Nosairis (Paris, 1900) of Ren6 Dussaud, one of the very few Europeans who have, as I think, appreciated the good points of this remarkable sect.
"Certain excessess," he says (p. 49), "rendered these doctrines hateful to orthodox Musulmans, and led them definitely to con- demn them. It must be recognised that many Isma'ili precepts were borrowed from the Mu'tazilites, who, amongst other things, repudiated the Attributes of God and proclaimed the doctrine pf JVee WilL Notwithstanding this lack of originality, it appears that The judgments pronounced by Western scholars are marked by an excessive severity. It is certainly wrong to confound, as do the Musulman doctors, all these sects in one common reprobation. Thus, the disappearance of the Fatimids, who brought about the triumph of the Isma'ili religion in Egypt, concludes an era of pros- perity, splendour, and toleration such as the East will never again enjoy."
And in a note at the foot of the page the same scholar remarks with justice that even that branch of the Isma'flfs from whom was derived the word " Assassin," and to whom it was originally applied, were by no means the first community to make use of this weapon of a persecuted minority against
x
396 THE ISMAfli SECT
their oppressors, and that " the Old Man of the Mountain " himself was not so black as it is the custom to paint him.1
Let us return, however, to 'Abdu'llah b. Mayrnun al-Qaddih, to whom is generally ascribed the origin of the Isma'fH power and organisation and the real parentage of the Fatimid Caliphs of Egypt and the West ; and let us take the account of him given in the Fihrist in preference to the assertions of more modern and less accurate writers. He was, according to this work, a native of Ahwaz ; and his father Maymun the Oculist was the founder of the Maymuniyya sect» a branch of the Khattabiyya, which belonged to the Ghul&t or Extreme bhIMtes, teaching that the Imams, and in particular the sixth Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq, the father of Isma'il, were Divine ' incarnations.2 'Abdu'llah claimed to be a Prophet, and performed prodigies which his followers regarded as miracles, pretending to traverse the earth in the twinkling of an eye and thus to obtain knowledge of things happening at a distance ; an achievement really effected, as the author ot the Fihrist asserts, by means of carrier-pigeons despatched by his confederates.3 From his native village he transferred his residence after a time to 'Askar Mukram, whence he was compelled to flee in succession to Sabat Abf Nuh, Bas.ra, and finally Salamiyya near Hims (Emessa) in Syria. Therejie bought land, and thence he sept his dfr{* I'nt-o f^r rrmntry about Kufa, where his doctrines were espoused by a certain Hamdan b. al-Ash'ath, of Quss Bahrdm, nicknamed <j>armat on account of his short body and legs, who became one of the
1 See my remarks on the " Ethics of Assassination," on pp. 371-3 of the (second volume of The Episode of the Bab (Cambridge, 1891). 1 a See Shahristani's J^tjiht'i Milgjjr 136-138-
3 Cf. de Goeje's Carmathes, p. 23. A similar use was made of carrier- pigeons by Rashidu'd-Din Sinan, one of the Grand Masters of the Syrian Assassins in the twelfth century of our era. See Stanilas Guyard's charming monograph in the Journal Asiatique for 1877, pp. 39 and 41 of the tirage-a-part. The employment of carrier-pigeons was apparently common in Persia in Samanid times (tenth century). See my translation of the Chahtir Maqala, pp. 29-30 of the tirage-a-part.
'ABDU'LLAH B. MA YMtfN AL-QADDAH 397
chief propagandists of the sect, besides giving its members one of the names (Carmathians ; Ar. Airmail or Qirmitiy pi. QarAmita} by which they were subsequently known.1 j One of Hamdan's chief lieutenants was his brother-in-law / 'AbdanT jhe author of a number of (presumably controversial) / books, who organised the propaganda in Chaldaea, while I Hamdan resided at Kalwadha, maintaining a correspondence I with one of the sons of 'Abdu'lldh b. Maymun al-Qadddh who abode at Taliqdn in Khurdsdn.
About this time 'Abdu'llah b. 1\d>ymun.died (AiH-^6i = A.D. 874-5) and was succeeded first by his son Muhammad, secondly by a certain Ahmed (variously described as the son or the brother of him last named) called Abu Shalacla', and thirdly by Sa'fd b. al-Husayn b. Abdu'lldh b. Maymun al-Qadddh, who was born in A.M. 260 at Salamiyya in Syria, a year before the death of his grandfather. To him at length was it granted to reap the fruits of the ambitious schemes devised and matured by his predecessors. In A.H. 297 (A.D. 909), learning from his d^l Abu 'Abdi'llah that the Berbers in North Africa were impregnated with the Ismd'iH doctrines and were eagerly expecting the coming of the Imam, he crossed over thither, declared himself to be the great-grand- son of Muhammad b. Isma'Il and the promised Mahdi, took the name of Abu Muhammad 'Ubaydu'llah, placed himself at the head of his enthusiastic partisans, overthrew the Aghlabid dynasty, conquered the greater portion of North Africa, and, with the newly-founded city of Mahdiyya for his capital, established the dynasty which, because of the claim which it maintained of descent from Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, is known as the Fatimid. Sixty years later (A.H. 356 = A.D. 969) Egypt was wrested by them from the House of Ikhshid, and at the end of the tenth century of our era most
1 See de Goeje's learned note on this much-debated etymology at pp. 199-203 of his Alenwire sur les Carmathes. For a full account of the, conversion of Hamdan, see de Sacy's Expose, vol. i, pp. clxvi-clxxi,
398 THE ISMA'JLI SECT
of Syria was in their hands. This great Shi'ite power was represented by fourteen Anti-Caliphs, and was finally extin- guished by Saladin (Salahu'd Din) in A.H. 567 (A.D. 1171).
The genuineness of the pedigree claimed by the Fatimids has been much discussed, and the balance of evidence appears to weigh strongly against it : there is little doubt that not 'All and Fitima, but 'Abdu'llah b. Maymun al-Qaddih was their real ancestor. The matter is discussed at length by de Goeje 1 with his usual learning and acumen. Amongst the many arguments that he adduces against their legitimacy it is sufficient to cite here one or two of the strongest. Their descent from Fdtima was denied alike by the 'Abbasid Caliphs (who made no attempt to contest the pedigrees of the numerous 'Alid pretenders, some of them dangerous and formidable enough, who were continually raising the standard of rebellion against them) ; by the Umayyads of Cordova ; and, on two separate occasions (A.H. 402 and 444 = A.D. ion— 1012 and 1052-3), by the recognised representatives of the House of 'AH at Baghdad. Moreover, the Buwayhid 'Adudu'd-Dawla, in spite of his strong Shi'ite proclivities, was so far from satisfied with the results of an inquiry into their pedigree which he instituted in A.H. 370 (A.D. 980-1) that he threatened to invade their territories, and ordered all their writings to be burned. And on the other hand it is frankly admitted in the sacred books of the Druzes, a sect (still active and numerous in Syria) which regards al-Hdkim, the sixth Fatimid Caliph, as the last and most perfect Manifestation or Incarnation of the Deity, that 'Abdu'llah b. Maymun al-Qadddh was the ancestor of their hero.2 When we reflect on the inward essence of the Isma'ilf doctrine, and its philosophical and cosmopolitan character, we might well imagine that to the fully-initiated members of the sect at any rate it would be a matter of comparative indifference whether their spiritual and
1 Carmaihes de Bahrain, pp. 4-11.
2 De Goeje, loc. cit., p. 10 ; de Sacy's Expose, pp. Ixvii, 35 and 84-87.
THE FATIMID CALIPHS 399
temporal rulers were or were not descended from the Prophet through his daughter Fatima. But, as we shall see in a later chapter, one of their most talented missionaries in Persia, the poet and traveller Nasir-i-Khusraw, who held the high title of Hujjaty or "Proof," of Khurasan — a man of fiery zeal and transparent sincerity — certainly believed in the genuineness of the Fatimid pedigree.
As regards the rule of the Fatimids, it was on the whole, despite occasional acts of cruelty and violence inevitable in that time and place, liberal, beneficent, and favourable to learning.
"Tbf. 4Isma!lli) doctrines/' says Guyard,1 "were publicly taught at Cairo in universities richly endowed and provided with libraries, where crowds assembled to listen to the most distinguished pro- fessors. The principle of the sect being that men must.be converted by persuasion, the greatest tolerance was shown towards other creeds. Mu'izz (the fourth Fatimid Caliph, reigned A.D. 952-975) permitted Christians to dispute openly with his doctors, a thing hitherto unheard of ; and Severus, the celebrated bishop of Ushmunayn, availed himself of this authorisation. Out of the funds of the Treasury Mu'izz rebuilt the ruined church of St. Mercurius at Fystat. which the Christians had never hitherto been permitted to restore. Certain Musulman fanatics endeavoured to prevent this, and on the day when the first stone was laid a Shaykh, leaping down amongst the foundations, swore that he would die rather than suffer the church to be rebuilt. Mu'izz, being informed of what was taking place, caused this man to be buried under the stones, and only spared his life at tfte instance of the Patriarch Ephrem.' Had the Isma'ili doctrine been able to maintain itself in Egypt in its integrity, it would have involved the civilisation of the Muslim world. Unfortunately, as an actual consequence of this doctrine, a serious change was about to take place in the sect ; *
1 Un grand m&itre des Assassins, pp. 14-15 of the tirage-a-part.
' Guyard refers here to Quatremere's Vie du khalife fdtimite Moezz li-din-Alldh (extract from the Journal Asiatique), pp. 118 ct. seqq., and to an article by Defremery (Nouvelles Recherches sur les Ismailicns) in the same Journal, Ser. V, vol. iii, p. 404.
3 Allusion is here made to the monstrous pretensions advanced by al-Hakim, the grandson of al- Mu'izz, who claimed to be an Incarnation
400 THE ISMA'JLf SECT
while, on the other hand, the excesses of the Isma'ih's of Persia and Syria armed against Egypt, the fpcus of the sect, the pious and orthodox Nuru'd-Din (the Atabek of Syria, A.D. 1146-1173), who succeeded in overthrowing the Fatimid dynasty."
Nasir-i-Khusraw, who was at Cairo in the middle of the eleventh century of our era, during the reign of al-Mustansir, the eighth Fatimid Caliph, gives an equally favourable picture.
" Every one," says he,1 " has perfect confidence in the Sultan, and no one stands in fear of myrmidons or spies, relying on the Sultan to oppress no one and to covet no one's possessions. There I saw wealth belonging to private individuals such that if I should speak of it or describe it the people of Persia would refuse to credit my statements. I could neither limit nor define their wealth, and nowhere have I seen such prosperity as I saw there. There I saw a Christian who was one of the richest men in Egypt, so that it was said that his ships, his wealth, and his estates surpassed computation. My object in mentioning him is that one year the water of the Nile fell short and corn became dear. The Sultan's ii'azir summoned this Christian and said, 'The year is not good, and the Sultan's heart is weighed down with anxiety for his people. How much corn could you supply, either for a price or as a loan ? ' The Christian answered, 'Thanks to the fortunate auspices of the Sultan and the wazir, I have in store so much corn that I could supply all Egypt with bread for six years.' 3 Now the population of Egypt at this time was certainly, at the lowest computation, five times that of Nishapur ; and any one versed in statistics will readily understand what vast wealth one must possess to hold corn to such an amount, and what security of property and good government a people must enjoy amongst whom such things are possible, and what great riches ; and withal neither did the Sultan oppress or wrong any one, nor did his subjects keep anything hidden or concealed."
of God, and was accepted as such by the sect of Isma'ilis still known as the Druzes, after al-Hakim's minister and abettor the Persian Hamza ad-Duruzi.
1 Safar-ndma, edited in the original Persian, with a French translation, by the late M. Ch. Schefer (Paris, 1881) , pp. 155-6 of the translation, pp. 56-7 of the text.
3 Or perhaps " Cairo," which, as well as the country of which it is the capital, is commonly called Misr by the Muslims.
THE CARMATHIANS 401
It does not appear that Nasir-i- Khusraw had embraced the Isma'fH doctrine before he made his journey to Egypt and the West, and we may fairly assume that the admirable example presented to other governments of that period by the Fdtimids had no inconsiderable effect in his conversion to those views of which, till the end of his long life, he was so faithful an adherent and so earnest an exponent. That he was familiar with the Gospels is proved by several passages in his poems ; and no doubt he held that men cannot gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, and that a doctrine capable of producing results which contrasted so favourably with the conditions prevalent under any other contemporary government had at any rate a strong primd facie claim to serious and attentive consideration.
Before we proceed to speak of this doctrine, however, it is necessary to say something of a less orderly and well-conducted branch of the Isma^Hs, whose relation to the Fdtimid Caliphs still remains, in spite of the investigations of many eminent scholars, notably de Goeje, somewhat of a mystery. Mention has already been made of Hamddn Qarmat, from whom the Carmathians (Qardmita} derive their name. These Car- math ians, the followers of the above-named Qaunat and his disciple '^hjgfl (the most prolific writer of the early iMtta'ilis),1 are much less intimately connected with Persian history than the Fdtimid Isma'fHs, and their power was of much shorter duration ; but for about a hundred years (A.D. 890-990) they spread terror through the realms of the 'Abbasid Caliphs. Already, while the Zanj insurrection was in progress, we find Qarmat interviewing the insurgent leader and endeavouring to arrive at an understanding with him, which, however, proved to be impossible.2 Very shortly
1 FihHst, p. 189, where eight of his works are mentioned as having been seen and read by the author. Another work mentioned in this place (al-Baldghdtu 's-sab'a, in the sense, apparently of "the Seven Initiations") was known, by name at least, to the Nidhamu'1-Mulk. See his Siyrfsat- tidma, ed. Schefer, p. 196.
• De Goeje's Carmathes, p. 26 ; and p. 350 supra.
27
402 THE iSMAlLt SECT
after this (A.D. 892) the increasing power of the Carmathians began to cause a lively anxiety at Baghdad.1 About five years later they first rose in arms, but this insurrection, as well as those of A.D. 900, 901, and 902, was suppressed. Yet already we find them active, not only in Mesopotamia and Khuzistan, but in Bahrayn, Yaman, and Syria ; on the one hand we hear of them in the prison and on the scaffold ; and on the other, led by their dfrh Zilcrawayh and Abu Sa'fd Hasan b. Bahram al-Janndbf (both Persians, to judge by their names), we find them widely extending their power and obtaining absolute control of vast tracts of country. In A.D. 900 the Caliph's troops were utterly routed outside Basra, and only the general, al-'Abbas b. cAmr al-Ghanawf, returned to tell the tale at Baghdad ; 2 while a year or two later " the Master of the Camel " (Sahiburn-nAqa), and after his death his brother, " the Man with the Mole " (Sahibush-ShAma, or SAhibu l-Khdl\ were ravaging Syria up to the very gates of Damascus. The success of this last was, however, short-lived, for he was taken captive and put to death in December, A.D. 903, and the death of Zikrawayh in the defeat inflicted on him three or four years later saved Syria for the time being from further ravages. His last and most signal achieve- ment was his attack on the pilgrim-caravan returning from Mecca, in which fearful catastrophe no less than twenty thousand victims are said to have perished.
The Fdtimid dynasty had been firmly established in North Africa for some years before we hear much more of the Carmathians ; 3 but in A.D. 924 Abu Tdhir al-Jannabf (the son and successor of the Abu Sa'id al-Jannabl mentioned above) raided Basra and carried off a rich booty ; a few months
1 De Goeje's Carmathes, pp. 31-2.
2 His own narrative is given in translation by de Goeje, op. tit., pp. 40-43. See also p. 354 supra.
3 De Goeje (op. cit., p. 75) speaks of " the almost complete inactivity of the Carmathians during the six years which immediately followed the death of Abu Sa'id " (who was assassinated in A.D. 913-914).
THE CARMATHIANS 403
later another pilgrim-caravan was attacked (2,200 men and 300 women were slain, and a somewhat greater number taken captive, together with a vast booty) ; x and soon afterwards Kufa was looted for six days, during which the Carmathian leader quartered his guard in the great mosque. Tn the early spring of A.D. 926 the pilgrim-caravan was allowed to proceed on its way after payment of a heavy ransom, but during the three following years passage was absolutely barred to the pilgrims. But it was in January, 930, that the Carmathians performed their greatest exploit, for in the early days of that month Abu Tahir, with an army of some six hundred horse- men and nine hundred unmounted soldiers, entered the sacred city of Mecca itself, slew, plundered, and took captive in the usual fashion, and — the greatest horror of all in the eyes of pious Muslims — carried off the Black Stone and other sacred relics. In this culminating catastrophe 30,000 Muslims are said to have been slain, of whom 1,900 met their death in the very precincts of the Ka'ba ; the booty carried off was immense ; and the scenes which accompanied these sacrilegious acts baffle description.2
It is unnecessary to follow in detail the further achievements of the Carmathians, who continued to raid, plunder, massacre, and levy taxes on the pilgrims until the death of Abu Tdhir in A.D. 944. Six years later the Black Stone, having been kept by the Carmathians of al-Ahsd for nearly twenty-two years, was voluntarily restored by them to its place in the Kacba of Mecca. " We took it by formal command (of our Imam), and we will only restore it by a command (from him) " had been their unvarying reply to all the attempts of the Muslims to persuade them to yield it up in return for enormous ransoms ; but at length the order was issued by the Fafimid Caliph al-Qa'im or al-Mansur,3 and the stone was once more
1 De Goeje, op. cit., p. 85.
* See de Goeje's graphic account, op. cit., pp. 104-113.
s Ibid., op. cit., p. 144.
404
set in its place, to the infinite joy and relief of all pious Muhammadans. Very soon after the Fatimids had obtained possession of Egypt (A.D. 969) a quarrel arose between them and their Carmathian co-religionists,1 and a year or two later we actually find some of the latter righting on the side of the 'Abbasids against their ancient masters.
The exact relations which existed between the apparently antinomian, democratic, and predatory Carmathians and the theocratic Fatimids, whose just and beneficent rule has been already described,2 are, as has been said, somewhat obscure. But de Goeje has conclusively proved, in the able and learned treatise so frequently quoted in this chapter, that these relations were of the closest ; that the Carmathians recognised to the full (save in some exceptional cases) the authority, temporal and spiritual, of the Fatimid Caliphs, even though it often seemed expedient to the latter to deny or veil the connection 3 ; and that the doctrines of both were the same, due allowance being made for the ruder and grosser under- standings of the Bedouin Arabs from whom were chiefly recruited 4 the ranks of the Carmathians, who were, as de Goeje observes, " as was only natural, absolute strangers to the highest grade of initiation in which the return of Muhammad b. Isma'tt was spiritually explained."
Of what is known concerning the internal organisation of the Carmathians ; of their Supreme Council, the white-robed llqdaniyya, to whom was given power to loose and to bind ; of their disregard of the ritual and formal prescriptions of Islam, their contempt for the " asses " who offered adoration to shrines and stones, and their indulgence in meats held unlawful by the orthodox ; and of their revenues, commerce, and treatment of strangers, full details will be found in de Goeje's
1 Concerning the very obscure causes of this incomprehensible event, cf. de Goeje, op. cit., pp. 183 et seqq.
" See pp. 399-401 supra ; and also de Goeje, op. cit., pp. 177-8. 3 Op. cit., pp. 81-83. 4 Op. cit., pp. 161-165 and 173.
THE CARMATHIANS 405
monograph. Of the many interesting passages cited in that little volume (a model of scholarly research and clear exposi- tion) the reader's attention is specially directed to the narrative of a woman who visited the Carmathian camp in search of her son (pp. 51-56) ; the poems composed by Abu Tdhir al-Jannabf after the sack of Mecca (p. no) and Kufa (pp. 113-115); the scathing satire composed in Yaman against the Carmathian chief (pp. 160-161) ; the narrative of a traditionist who was for a time a captive and a slave in the hands of the Carmathians (pp. 175-6) ; and the replies made by a Carmathian prisoner to the Caliph al-Mu'tadid (pp. 25—6). That morally they were by no means so black as their Muslim foes have painted them is certainly true, but of the terrible bloodshed heralded by their ominous and oft-repeated formula " Purify them " (by the sword) there is unfortunately no doubt whatever.
We must now pass to an examination of the Isma'fH doctrine — a doctrine typically Persian, typically Shfit£, and possessed of an extraordinary charm for minds of a certain type, and that by no means an ignoble or ignorant one.1 And here I will cite first of all the concluding paragraphs of an article which I contributed in January, 1898, to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society on the Literature and Doctrines of the J^urhfi Sect (pp. 88-9) :—
"The truth is, that there is a profound difference between the Persian idea of Religion and that which obtains in the West. Here it is the ideas of Faith and Righteousness (in different proportions, it is true) which are regarded as the essentials of Religion ; there it is Knowledge and Mystery. Here Religion is regarded as a rule by which to live and a hope wherein to die ; there as a Key to unlock the Secrets of the Spiritual and Material Universe. Here it is associated with Work and Charity ; there with Rest and Wisdom. Here a creed is admired for its simplicity ; there for its complexity
1 Cf, de Goeje, op. cit., p. 172,
406 THE ISMA'lLf SECT
To Europeans these speculations about 'Names' ana 'Numbers' and ' Letters ' ; this talk of Essences, Quiddities, and Theophanies ; these far-fetched analogies and wondrous hair-splittings, appear, as a rule, not merely barren and unattractive, but absurd and incom- prehensible ; and consequently, when great self-devotion and fearlessness of death and torture are witnessed amongst the adherents of such a creed, attempts are instinctively made by Europeans to attribute to that creed some ethical or political aim. Such aim may or may not exist, but, even if it does, it is, I believe, as a rule, of quite secondary and subordinate importance in the eyes of those who have evolved and those who have accepted the doctrine. . . .
" The same difference of ideal exists as to the quality and nature of Scripture, the Revealed Word of God. Provided the ethical teaching be sublime, and there be peace for the troubled and comfort for the sorrowful, we care little, comparatively, for the outward form. But in the eyes of the Musulmans (including, of course, the followers of all those sects, even the most heretical, which have arisen in the bosom of Islam) this outward form is a matter of the very first importance. Every letter and line of the Qur'an (which always remains the model and prototype of a Revealed Book, even amongst those sects who claim that it has been abrogated by a newer Revelation) is supposed to be fraught with unutterable mystery and filled with unfathomable truth. Generations of acute minds expend their energies in attempts to fathom these depths and penetrate these mysteries. What wonder if the same discoveries are made quite independently by different minds in different ages, working with the same bent on the same material ? In studying the religious history of the East, and especially of Persia, let us therefore be on our guard against attaching too much importance to resemblances which may be the natural outcome of similar minds working on similar lines, rather than the result of any historical filiation or connection."
The Isma'ilf doctrine was, as we have seen, mainly devised and elaborated (though largely from ideas and conceptions already ancient, and, as has been remarked, almost endemic in Persia) by 'Abdu'llah b. Maymun al-Qaddah. Great stress is generally laid, both by Oriental and European writers, on the primarily political motive which is supposed to have inspired him, the desire, namely, to destroy the power of the Arabs, and the religion of Islam whence that power was derived, and
THE ISMA'fLl DOCTRINE 407
to restore to Persia the dominant position which she had previously held, and to which, in his opinion, she was entitled.1 I myself am inclined to think that, to judge by the Persian character, in which the sentiment of what we understand by patriotism is not a conspicuous feature, and by what I have myself observed in the analogous case of the Babi's, this quasi- political motive has been unduly exaggerated ; and that 'Abdu'lldh b. Maymiin and his ally, the wealthy astrologer Dandan (or Zaydan) 2 exerted themselves as they did to propagate the system of doctrine about to be described not because it was Persian, but because, being Persian, it strongly appealed to their Persian minds. 3
The doctrine which we are about to describe is, it must be repeated, the doctrine evolved by 'Abdu'lldh b. Maymiin al-Qaddah. " The sect of the Isma'ilis," says Guyard in his Fragments relatifi a la Doctrine des Ismallis (Paris, 1874, p. 8), " was primarily a mere subdivision of the Shi'ites, or partisans of 'AH ; but, from the time of *Abdu'llah, surnamed Qaddah, the son of Maymiin Qaddah, and chief of the sect, towards the year A.H. 250 (A.D. 864), it so greatly diverged from its point of departure that it met with the reprehension of the Shf'ites themselves, who denounced as impious such as would embrace it." The chief thing which it derived from Isma'il the seventh Imam was its name hmdilll ; but it bore several other names, such as Sabli (" the Sect of the Seven ") ; Batinl ("the Esoteric Sect ") ; Ta'limi (" doctrinaire "), because, according to its tenets, the true " teaching " or " doctrine " (ta^llni) could only be obtained from the Imdm of the time ; Fdtimi
1 See, for instance, the Fihrist, p. 188, where the same design is ascribed to Abu Muslim ; Guyard, Un Grand Maitre dcs Assassins, pp. 4-5 and 10-13 ; de Goeje's Carmatlies, pp. 1-2 ; von Hammer's Histoire de I'Ordre des Assassins (Paris, 1833), p. 44, &c.
* See de Goeje, op. cit., p. 15 and note 2 ad cole.
3 No doubt Persian national feeling was appealed to, when it could serve the purpose of the dd'i, but he was just as ready to appeal to similar sentiments in the Arabs and other peoples. See de Sacy's Expose, p. cxii,
408 THE ISMAIL! SECT
("owing allegiance to the descendants of Fatima," the Prophet's daughter and 'All's wife) ; Airmail or Carmathian, after the dfri Hamdan Oarmat already mentioned. By their foes, especially in Persia, they were very commonly called simply Malahida ("impious heretics"), and later, after the New Propaganda of Hasan-i-Sabbah (of whom we shall speak in a later chapter), Hashlshi (" hashish-eaters ").
Their doctrine, as already indicated, and as will shortly appear more plainly, hinges to a large extent on the number seven, and, to a less degree, on the number twelve ; numbers which are written plain in the universe and in the body of man. Thus there are seven Planets and twelve Zodiacal Signs; seven, days in the week and twelve months in the year ; seven cervical vertebrae and twelve dorsal, and so on : while the number seven appears in the Heavens, the Earths, the Climes, and the apertures of the face and head (two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, and the mouth).
Intermediate between God and Man are the Five Principles or Emanations (the Universal Reason, the Universal Soul, Primal Matter, Pleroma or Space, and Kenoma or Time x), making in all Seven Grades of Existence.
Man cannot attain to the Truth by his unaided endeavours, but stands in need of the teaching (ta^llm) of the Universal Reason, which from time to time becomes incarnate in the form of a Prophet or " Speaker " (Natiq]^ and teaches, more fully and completely in each successive Manifestation, accord- ing to the evolution of the Human Understanding, the spiritual truths necessary for his guidance. Six great Prophetic cycles have passed (those of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad), and the last and seventh cycle, in which for the first time the Esoteric Doctrine, the true inwardness of the Law and the Prophets, is made clear, was inaugurated by Muhammad b. Isma'il, the ^a'im (" He who ariseth ") or Sahibuz-Zaman ("Lord of the Time"). Each Prophet or
1 See the footnote on p. n of Guyard's Grand Maitre ties Assassins.
THE ISMAfLf DOCTRINE
409
" Speaker " (Ndtiq} is succeeded by seven Imams (called Sdmit, " Silent "), of whom the first (called Asas, " Foundation," or <S«5, " Root," " Origin ") is always the intimate companion of the Ndtiq, and the repository of his esoteric teaching. The series in detail is as follows : —
Ndtiq.
i. Adam.
Asds, \vlio is the first of the Seven Sdmils or /warns.
Seth. (Each Sdmit, or Imam, has twelve Hujjais, " Proofs," or Chief Dd'is.)
Shein.
Ishmael.
Aaron. John the Baptist was the last Sdmit of this series, and the immediate precursor of Jesus, the next Ndtiq.
Simon Peter.
'Ali, followed by al- Hasan, al-Husayn, 'Ali Zaynu'l-'Abidin, Muhammad al- B.iqir, Ja'far as-Sadiq, and Isma'il.
'Abdu'llah b. Maymiin al-Qaddah, fol- lowed by two of his sons, Ahmad and Muhammad, and his grandson Sa'id, later known as 'Ubaydu'llah-al-Mahdi (who pretended to be the grandson of Muhammad b. Isma'il), the founder of the Fatimid Dynasty.
In the correspondence established between the Grades of Being and the Isma'IH hierarchy there seems to be a lacuna, since God, the Primal Unknowable Essence, is represented by no class in the latter. As to the last term also I am in doubt. The other correspondences are as follows : —
2. Noah.
3. Abraham.
4. Moses.
5. Jesus.
6. Muhammad.
7. Muljammad b. Isma'il.
1. God.
2. The Universal Reason (Aql-i-Kulli), manifested in the Ndtiq
or Prophet.
3. The Universal Soul (Nafs-i-Kulli), manifested in the Asds or
first Imam.
4. Primal Matter (Hayyula, >/ w\i/), manifested in the Sdmils or
Imams.
410 THE ISMAiLJ SECT
5. Space, or Pleroma (al-Mald), manifested in the Hujjal or
" Proof."
6. Time, or Kenoma (al-Khala), manifested in the Dd'i or
Missionary.
7. ? The Material Universe, manifested in ? The Believer.
Corresponding still with the dominant number are the degrees of initiation through which, according to his capacity and aptitude, the proselyte is successively lead by the ddll ; though these were afterwards raised to nine (perhaps to agree with the nine celestial spheres, i.e., the seven planetary spheres, the Sphere of the Fixed Stars, and the Empyrean). These degrees arc very fully described by de Sacy (Expose, vol. i, pp. Ixii-cxxxviii), who follows in the main the account of the historian an-Nuwayri (t A.D. 1332). Before speaking of them, however, a few words must be said about the ddll or propagandist.
The type of this characteristically Persian figure seems scarcely to have varied from the time of Abu Muslim to the present day, when the ddll of the Babis still goes forth on his perilous missions between Persia, his native land, and Syria, where his spiritual leaders dwell in exile. These men I have described from personal knowledge in another book,1 and I have often pleased myself with the thought that, thanks to these experiences, it is almost as though I had seen with my own eyes Abu Muslim, 'Abdu'lldh b. Maymun al-Qaddah, Hamdan Qarmat, and other heroes of the 'Abbasid and Isma'ili propaganda. But if the type of ddll is, so far as we can judge, almost unvarying in Western Asia, it differs very greatly from that of the European missionary, whose learning, knowledge of character and adaptability to circumstances fall short by as much as his material needs and national idiosyncrasies exceed those of the dd^l.
The ddll commonly adopted some ostensible profession,
1 A Year amongst the Persians, pp. 210-212, 271, 301 etscqq., 331 tt seqq., 481-3, &c.
THE ISMA'/L/ DOCTRINE 411
such as that of a merchant, physician, oculist, or the like, and, in this guise, arrived at the place where he proposed to begin operations.1 In the first instance his aim was to impress his neighbours with a high idea of his piety and benevolence. To this end he was constant in alms-giving and prayer, until he had established a high reputation for devout living, and had gathered round him a circle of admirers. To these, especially to such as appeared most apt to receive them, he began gradu- ally and cautiously to propound his doctrines, striving espe- cially to arouse the curiosity of his hearers, to awaken in them a spirit of inquiry, and to impress them with a high opinion of his wisdom, but prepared at any moment to draw back if they showed signs of restiveness or suspicion. Thus he speaks of Religion as a Hidden Science, insists on the symbolic character of its prescriptions, and hints that the outward observance of Prayer, the Fast, the Pilgrimage, and Alms-giving is of little value if their spiritual significance be not understood. If curiosity and an eagerness to learn more are manifested by his hearer, the dall begins an explanation, but breaks it off in the middle, hinting that such divine mysteries may only be dis- closed to one who has taken the oath of allegiance to the Imam of the age, the chosen representative of God on earth, and the sole repository of this Hidden Science, which he confides only to such as prove themselves worthy to receive it. The primary aim of the ddll is, indeed, mainly to secure from the proselyte this allegiance, ratified by a binding oath and expressed by the periodical payment of a tribute of money. Of the questions whereby he seeks to excite the neophyte's curiosity the following are specimens : —
"Why did God take seven days to create the universe, when He could just as easily have created it in a single moment ?"
"What in reality are the torments of Hell ? How can it be true
1 The particulars which follow are almost entirely drawn from de Sacy (Expose, pp. Ixxiv-cxxxviii), who cites the account of Akhii Muhsin given by Nuwayri.
412 THE ISM A fLI SECT
that the skins of the damned will be changed into other skins, in order that these, which have not participated in their sins, may be submitted to the Torment of the Fire ? "
"What are the Seven Gates of Hell- Fire and the Eight Gates of Paradise ? "
" Why were the heavens created according to the number Seven, and the Earths likewise ? And why, also, is the first chapter of the Qur'an composed of seven verses ? "
" What means this axiom of the philosophers, that man is a little world (Microcosm) and the World a magnified man ? Why does man, contrary to all other animals, carry himself erect ? Why has he ten digits on the hands, and as many on the feet ; and why are four digits of the hand divided each into three phalanges, while the thumb has only two ? Why has the face alone seven apertures,1 while in all the rest of the body there are but two ? Why has he twelve dorsal and seven cervical vertebras ? Why has his head the form of the letter mim, his two hands that of a fjd, his belly that of a mim, and his two legs that of a ddl, in such wise that he forms, as it were, a written book, of which the interpretation is the name of Muhammad (M.H.M.D.) ? Why does his stature, when erect, resemble the letter alif, while when he kneels it resembles the letter lam, and when he is prostrate * the letter hd, in such wise that he forms, as it were, an inscription of which the reading is Ildh (I. L. H.), God ? "
" Then," says de Sacy,3 " addressing themselves to those who listen to them, they say : 'Will you not reflect on your own state ? Will you not meditate attentively on it, and recognise that He who has created you is wise, that He does not act by chance, that He has acted in all this with wisdom, and that it is for secret and mysterious reasons that He has united what He has united, and divided what He has divided ? How can you imagine that it is permissible for you to turn aside your attention from all these things, when you hear these words .of God (Quran, li, 20-21) : "There are signs on the earth to those who believe with a firm faith ; and in your own selves ; will ye not then consider?" And again (Qur'an, xiv, 30), "And God propounds unto mankind parables, that perchance they may reflect thereon.'" And again (Qur'an, xli, 53), " We will show them our signs in the horizons and in themselves, that it may become clear unto them
1 See p. 408 supra.
3 These are the three positions in prayer named qiydm, ruku1, and sujud.
3 Op. cit., pp. Ixxxvii-lxxxix.
THE ISMA'fLf DOCTRINE 413
that this is the Tntlh." . . . And again (Qur'dn, xvii, 74), " Whosoever is blind in respect to [the tilings of] this life is also blind in respect to [the things of] the other life, and follows a misleading path." '
Finally, by some or all of these means, the dd'l prevails upon the neophyte to take the oath of allegiance, saying r —
" Bind yourself, then, by placing thy right hand in mine, and promise me, with the most inviolable oaths and assurances, that you will never divulge our secret, that you will not lend assistance to any one, be it who it may, against us, that you will set no snare for us, that you will not speak to us aught but the truth, and that you will not league yourself with any of our enemies against us."
The full form of the oath will be found, by such as are curious as to its details, at pp. cxxxviii-cxlvii of de Sacy's Expose.
The further degrees of initiation are briefly as follows : —
Second Degree. The neophyte is taught to believe that God's approval cannot be won by observing the prescriptions of Islam, unless the Inner Doctrine, of which they are mere symbols, be received from the Imam to whom its guardianship has been entrusted.
Third Degree. The neophyte is instructed as to the nature and number of the Imams, and is taught to recognise the significance in the spiritual and material worlds of the number Seven which they also represent. He is thus definitely detached from the Imdmiyya of the Sect of the Twelve, and is taught to regard the last six of their Imams as persons devoid of spiritual knowledge and unworthy of reverence.
Fourth Degree. The neophyte is now taught the doctrine of the Seven Prophetic Periods, of the nature of the Ndtiq, the Sus or Asds and the remaining six Sdmits (" Silent " Imams)8 who succeed the latter, and of the abrogation by each Ndtiq of the religion of his predecessor. This teaching involves the admission (which definitely places the proselyte outside the pale of Islam) that Muhammad was
1 De Sacy (op. cit., p. xciii).
• They are called " silent " because, unlike the Prophet who introduces each Period, they utter no new doctrine, but merely teach and develop that which they have received from the Ndftq.
4H THE ISMAftf SECT
not the last of the Prophets, and that the Qur'an is not God's final revelation to man. With Muhammad b. Isma'il, the Seventh and Last Ndtiq, the Qd'im (" He who ariseth "), the Sdhibu'l-Amr ("Master of the Matter"), an end is put to the "Sciences of the Ancients" ('Uhimu'l-awwalin), and the Esoteric (Bdtini) Doctrine, the Science of Allegorical Interpretation (ta'wil), is inaugurated.
Fifth Degree. Here the proselyte is further instructed in the Science of the Numbers and in the applications of the ta'wil, so that he discards many of the traditions, learns to speak con- temptuously of the state of Religion, pays less and less heed to the letter of Scripture, and looks forward to the abolition of all the outward observances of Islam. He is also taught the significance of the number Twelve, and the recognition of the twelve Hujjas or " Proofs," who primarily conduct the propaganda of each Imam. These are typified in man's body by the twelve dorsal vertebrae, while the seven cervical vertebrae represent the Seven Prophets and the Seven Imams of each.
Sixth Degree. — Here the proselyte is taught the allegorical mean- ing of the rites and obligations of Islam, such as prayer, alms, pilgrimage, fasting, and the like, and is then persuaded that their outward observance is a matter of no importance, and may be abandoned, since they were only instituted by wise and philo- sophical lawgivers as a check to restrain the vulgar and unen- lightened herd.
Seventh Degree. To this and the following degrees only the leading dd'is, who fully comprehend the real nature and aim of their doctrine, can initiate. At this point is introduced the dualistic doctrine of the Pre-existent (al-Mufid, as-Sdbiq) and the Subsequent (al-Mustafid, at-Tdli, al-Ldhiq), which is destined ultimately to undermine the proselyte's belief in the Doctrine of the Divine Unity.
Eighth Degree. Here the doctrine last mentioned is developed and applied, and the proselyte is taught that above the Pre-existent and the Subsequent is a Being who has neither name, nor attribute, of whom nothing can be predicated, and to whom no worship can be rendered. This Nameless Being seems to represent the Zeruvdn Akarana ("Boundless Time") of the Zoroastrian system, but, as may be seen by referring to de Sacy's Expose (pp. cxxi-cxxx) some confusion exists here, and different teachings were current amongst the Isma'ilis, which, however, agreed in this, that, to quote Nuwayri's expression, " those who adopted them could no longer be reckoned otherwise than amongst the Dualists and Materialists." The prose- lyte is also taught that a Prophet is known as such not by miracles,
THE ISMAfll DOCTRINE 415
but by his ability to construct and impose on mnnkind a system at once political, social, religious, and philosophical — a doctrine which I myself have heard enunciated amongst the Babis in Persia, one of whom said to me that just as the architect proved himself to be such by building a house, or the physician by healing sickness, so the prophet proved his mission by founding a durable religion.1 He is further taught to understand allegorically the end of the world, the Resurrection, Future Rewards and Punishments, and other eschatological doctrines.
Ninth Degree. In this, the last degree of initiation, every vestige of dogmatic religion has been practically cast aside, and the initiate is become a philosopher pure and simple, free to adopt such system or admixture of systems as may be most to his taste. " Often," says Nuwayri, " he embraces the views of Manes or Bardesanes ; some- times he adopts the Magian system, sometimes that of Plato or Aristotle : most frequently he borrows from each of these systems certain notions which he combines together, as commonly happens to these men, who, abandoning the Truth, fall into a sort of bewilder- ment."
Space does not permit us to cite the pledge or covenant whereby the proselyte bound himself to obey the dfrl^ nor to enlarge on the methods whereby the latter sought to approach the adherents of different sects and creeds in order to gain their allegiance. For these and other most interesting matters we must refer the reader to de Sacy's Expose, vol. i, pp. cxxxviii-clxiii et passim, Guyard's Fragments relatifs a la Doctrine des Ismaelis and Un Grand maitre des Assassins , and other monographs alluded to in the notes to this chapter. The further developments of this sect will be discussed in another portion of this work.
1 Cf. my Year amongst the Persians, pp. 303-306, 367-8, &c.
CHAPTER XIII
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF THIS PERIOD
II. THE Surf MYSTICISM.
ALTHOUGH the full development of that system or pantheistic, idealistic, and theosophic mysticism known amongst Muham- madans as tasawwufy and in Europe as Suflism belongs to a rather later period than that which we are now considering, it was already when the Finrist was composed (A.D. 987) a recognised school of thought, and may therefore conveniently be considered in this place, more particularly as some know- ledge of its nature and teachings is essential for the under- standing of a certain proportion of even the older Persian poets who lived before the time of Sana'f (circ. A.D. 11.31), 'Attar (t A.D. 1230) and Jaldlu'd-Din Rumf (t A.D. 1273). Shaykh Abu Sa'id b. Abi'l-Khayr (t A.D. 1049), whose mys- tical quatrains form the subject of one of Dr. Ethe's excellent monographs,1 and for whose biography we possess, thanks to Professor Zhukovski, unusually copious materials,2 was perhaps the first purely mystical Persian poet whose works have sur- vived to our time, but Sufi influences may be traced in the
1 Published in the Sitzungsberichte der KSnigl-bayer. Akad. d. Wissen- schaften for 1875, Phil. hist. Cl., pp. 145-168.
2 These texts were published in St. Petersburg in 1899, and comprise the Life and Sayings of the Saint (pp. 78), and the Mysteries of the Divine Unity with the Risdla-i-Hawrd'iyya (pp. 493).
416
ETYMOLOGY OF " StfFf'' 417
writings of some of his contemporaries if not of his prede- cessors.
A number of derivations have been proposed at different
times for the term Suff, but it is now quite certain that it is
derived from the word suf, " wool," which view is
derivation of the confirmed by the equivalent pashmina-push. " wool- term Sufi. ,. . , • • D •
wearer, applied to these mystics m Persian. From the earliest times woollen raiment was regarded as typical of that simplicity of life and avoidance of ostentation and luxury enjoined by the Prophet and his immediate successors, as clearly appears from Mas'udPs account of the 11 Orthodox Caliphs" in the JMuruju'dh-Dhahab.* The term Suff was therefore in later times applied to those ascetic and pious devotees who, like the early Quakers in England, made the simplicity of their apparel a silent protest against the growing luxury of the worldly. It does not appear to have come into use till about the middle of the second century of the Flight (end of the eighth century of our era), for Jamf expressly states in his Nafahdtul-Uns (ed. Nassau-Lees, p. 34) that it was first applied to Abu Hashim the Syrian, a contemporary of Sufyan ath-Thawri, who died in A.D. 777. This derivation may be regarded as quite certain, and it is sufficient merely to mention the attempts made to connect the word with the Greek <ro<£de, the Arabic soft, "purity" (a fanciful etymology favoured by Jamf in his Bahdristdn), or the mendicant ahlus-Suffd (" People of the Bench ") of early Muhammadan times.3 Al-Qushayrf,3 indeed, is quite explicit as to the period when this term first
1 See the extract at the end of Socin's Arabic Grammar (English edition of 1885), pp. 72-3, 75, 76, and 77.
3 See Herman Frank's Bcitrag zur Erkenntniss des Sufismus (Leipzig, 1884), pp. 8-10.
3 'Abdu'l-Karim b. Hawazin al-Qushayri (f A.D. 1046-7), the author of the well-known Sufi treatise entitled ar-Risdlatu'l-Qushayriyya, which was printed at Bulaq in A.M. 1284 (A.D. 1867). The passage in question is cited by Jaini at p. 31 of Nassau-Lees's edition of the Nafahdt,
28
4J8 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
came into use, viz., a little before A.H. 200 (A.D. 816) ; and the earliest Sufi writer known to the author of the Fihrist seems to have been Yahya b. Mu'adh of Ray (probably, there- fore, a Persian), whose death he places in A.H. 206 (A.D. 82 1-2). T Still earlier mystics (who, whether so entitled or not, were essentially Stiffs, and are claimed as such by their successors) were Ibrdhfm Adham (t circ. A.D. 777), D&'iid at-Ta'i (t A.D. 781-2), Fudayl clyad (t A.D. 803), and the woman Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, who was a contemporary of the above-mentioned Sufyan ath-Thawrf. The beginnings of Sufiism may, in short, be pretty certainly placed at the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries of our era. The views which have been advanced as to the nature, origin, and source of the Stiff doctrine are as
Theories as to ° '. .....
the origin of divergent as the etymologies by which it is
SiUiism. i • • T» .
proposed to explain its name. Briefly they may be described as follows : —
(i) The theory that it really represents the Esoteric Doctnne of the Prophet. This is the prevalent view of the Sufis themselves, and of those Muhanimadans who are more or less in sympathy with them; and though it can hardly com- mend itself to European scholars, it is by no means so absurd or untenable a hypothesis as is often assumed in Europe. Without insisting too much on the (probably spurious) traditions constantly cited by the Sufis as the basis of their doctrine, such as God's alleged declaration, " I was a Hidden Treasure and I desired to be known, therefore I created Creation that I might be known j " or, " God was, and there was naught beside Him ; " or, " Whosoever knoweth himself knowdh his Lord ; " there are in the Quran itself a few texts which lend themselves to a mystical interpretation, as, for instance, the words addressed to the Prophet concerning his victory over the heathen at the battle of Badr (Qur'an, viii, 17) : " Thou didst not shoot when thou didst shoot, but God shot." This on the face of it means no more than that God strengthened the arms of the Muslims against their foes ; but it involves no great straining of the
* Jami, however, gives A.H. 258 (A.D. 872) as the date of his death (Nafahdt, p. 62).
THEORIES OF ITS ORIGIN 419
words to deduce therefrom that God is the Absolute Agent (Fa"dl-i- Mutlaq) and man but " as the pen between the fingers of the scribe, who turns it as he will." However little a critical examination of the oldest and most authentic records of the Prophet's life and teachings would warrant us in regarding him as a mystic or ascribing to him an esoteric doctrine, it must be avowed without reserve that such is the view taken by the more moderate Siifis, and even of such philosophically minded theologians as al-Ghazzali (f A.D. 1111-2).
(2) The theory that it must be regarded as the reaction of the Aryan mind against a Semitic religion imposed upon it by force.
This theory has two forms, which may be briefly
2. The1; Aryan described as the Indian and the Persian. The former,
theory. taking note of certain obvious resemblances which
exist between the Sufi doctrines in their more advanced forms and some of the Indian systems, notably the Vedanta Sara, assumes that this similarity (which has, in my opinion, been exag- gerated, and is rather superficial than fundamental) shows that these systems have a common origin, which must be sought in India. The strongest objection to this view is the historical fact that though in Sasanian times, notably in the sixth century of our era, during the reign of Nushirwan, a certain exchange of ideas took place between Persia and India, no influence can be shown to have been exerted by the latter country on the former (still less on other of the lands of Islam) during Muhammadan times till after the full development of the Sufi system, which was practically completed when al-Biruni, one of the first Musulmans who studied the Sanskrit language and the geography, history, literature, and thoughts of India, wrote his famous Memoir on these subjects. In much later times it is likely enough, as shown by von Kremer,1 that considerable influence was exerted- by Indian ideas on the development of Sufiism. The other, or Persian, form of the "Aryan Reaction theory" would regard Sufiism as an essentially Persian product. Our comparative ignorance of the undercurrents of thought in Sasanian times makes it very difficult to test this theory by the only safe method, the historical ; but, as we have already seen, by no means all the early Sufis were of Persian nationality, and some of the most notable and influential mystics of later times, such as Shaykh Muhyiyyu'd-Din ibnu'l 'Arabi (f A.D. 1240-1), and Ibnu'l Farid (f A.D. 1234-5), were men of Arabic speech in whose veins there was not a drop of Persian blood. Yet the first of these exerted
1 Culturgeschichtliche Streifzuge auf dem Gebicte des hldms (Leip/ig, 1873), PP- 45-55-
420 THE $tfFI MYSTICISM
an enormous influence over many of the most typical Persian Sufis, such as 'Iraqi (f A.D. 1287), whose Lama'dt was wholly inspired by his writings, Awhadu'd-Din Kirmani (f A.D. 1297-8), and indirectly on the much later Jami (f A.D. 1492-3), while even at the present day his works (especially the Fususu' l-hikam) are widely read and diligently studied by Persian mystics.
(3) The theory oj Neo-Platonist influence. So far as Sufiism was
not an independent manifestation of that mysticism which, because
it meets the requirements and satisfies the cravings of
3- Theory of a certain class of minds existing in all ages and in
Neo-Platonist ....
origin. most civilised communities, must be regarded as a spontaneous phenomenon, recurring in many similar but unconnected forms wherever the human mind continues to concern itself with the problems of the Wherefore, the Whence, and the Whither of the Spirit, it is probable that it has been more indebted to Neo-Platonism than to any other system. This view, which I have long held, has been very admirably worked out by my friend and pupil Mr. R. A. Nicholson in his Selected Poems from the Divdn-i-Shams-i-Tabriz (Cambridge, 1898), pp. xxx-xxxvi; but he is mistaken in stating (p. xxx) that " the name of Plotinus was unknown in the East," for this philosopher is explicitly mentioned by name in the Fihrist (p. 255), though he is more general!)' referred to (e.g., by Shahristani, in his Kitdbu'l-Milal) as "the Greek Teacher" (ash-Shay khu'l-Yundni).1 Porphyry, however, was much better known to the Muslims, and seven or eight of his writings are enumerated in the Fihrist (p. 253). But even admitting the connec- tion between Neo-Platonism and Sufiism, there remain several subsidiary questions to which it is not possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to give a definite answer : such as — (i) " What elements of their philosophy did the Neo-Platonists originally borrow from the East, and especially from Persia,2 which country Plotinus visited, as we learn from his biographer Porphyry, expressly to study the systems of philosophy there taught ? " 3 (2) " To what
1 See Haarbrucker's translation of Shahristani, vol. ii, pp. 192 et seqq, and 429-430.
3 Bouillet in his translation of the Enneads of Plotinus (Paris, 1857) speaks (p. xiii.) of " la filiation qui existe entre certaines idees de Plotin et les doctrines mystiques de 1'Orient ; " and again (p. xxviij of " la trace des doctrines theologiques tirees de 1'Orient."
3 Idem, p. 41 : " II prit un si grand gout pour la philosophic qu'il se proposa d'etudier celle qui etait enseignee chez les Perses et celle qui prevalait chez les Indiens. Lorsque 1'empereur Gordien se prepara a faire son expedition centre les Perses, Plotin, alors age de trente-neuf ans, se mit
THEORIES OF ITS ORIGIN 421
extent did the seven Neo-Platonist philosophers who, driven from their homes by the intolerance of Justinian, took refuge at the Persian court in the reign of Nushirwan (about A.D. 532) found a school or propagate their ideas in that country ? " x In the ninth century of our era, in the Golden Age of Islam, the Neo-Platonist philosophy was certainly pretty well known to thinking Muslims, but till the two questions posed above have received a definite answer we cannot exclude the possibility that its main doctrines were familiar to, if not derived from, the East at a very much earlier date.
(4) The theory of independent origin. As has been already hinted, there remains the possibility that the Sufi mysticism may be an entirely independent and spontaneous growth. " The identity of two beliefs," as Mr. Nicholson well remarks (op. cit., p. xxx), " does not prove that one is generated by the other : they may be results of a like cause." Any one who has read that charming work, Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics, will easily recall to mind some of the many striking resemblances, both in substance and form, in the utterances of mystics of the most various creeds, countries, and epochs, between whom it is practically certain that no external relation whatever can have existed ; and I would venture to assert that many of the utterances of Eckart, Tauler, or Santa Teresa would, if translated into Persian, easily pass current as the words of Sufi Shaykhs.
Now we must not fall into the error of regarding Sufiism as a doctrine equally definite and systematised with that, for example, of the Isma'flls, which was considered in the last chapter. The Sufi is essentially an eclectic, and generally a latitudinarian : " the ways of God," says one of his favourite aphorisms, " are as the number of the souls of men ; " while the tradition, " Seek knowledge, were it even in China," is constantly on his tongue. No one, perhaps, did more to gain for Sufiism a good repute and to give it a philosophical form
a la suite de 1'armee. II avait passe dix a onze annees entieres pres d'Ammonius. Gordien ayant etc tue en Mesopotamie, Plotin cut assez de peine a se sauver a Antioche."
1 See ch. xl of Gibbon's Decline and Fall (ed. 1813, vol. vii, pp. 149-152). Agathius is Ihe chief authority for this curious episode. The philosophers in question were Diogenes, Hermias, Eulalius, Priscian, Damascius, Uidore, and Simplicius.
422 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
than the great theologian al-Ghazzali, " The Proof of Islam " (t A.D. 1 1 11-1112), and this is how he describes his eagerness to understand every point of view in his treatise entitled al-^iunqidh mlnad-Dalal ("The Deliverer from Error") : —
" In the prime of my youth, since I was come to full understand- ing and ere I reached my twentieth year, until this present time, when my age exceedeth two score and ten, I have never ceased to explore the depths of this deep sea, or to plunge into its expanse as plunges the bold, not the timorous and cautious diver, penetrating into every dark recess, attacking every difficulty, braving every whirlpool, investigating the creed of every sect and unravelling the mysteries of every school, in order that I might learn to distinguish between the true and the false, the observer of authorised practices and the heretical innovator. Wherefore I never meet a Biilini (" Esoteric," i.e., Isma'ili) without desiring to inform myself of his Esotericism (Batiniyyat), nor a Dhahiri (" Externalist," " Litteralist ") without wishing to know the outcome of his Externalism (Djhahiriyyaf), nor a philosopher without endeavouring to understand the essence of his philosophy, nor a schoolman (Mutakallim) without striving to comprehend the result of his scholasticism (Kaldm) and his contro- versial method, nor a Siifi without longing to divine the secret of his mysticism, nor a devout believer without wishing to ascertain what he hath gained by his devotion, nor a heretic (Zindiq) nor an atheist without endeavouring to discover behind him an admonition as to the causes which have emboldened him to profess his atheistical or heretical doctrine. A thirst to comprehend the essential natures of all things was, indeed, my idiosyncrasy and distinctive characteristic from the beginning of my career and prime of my life : a natural gift and temperament bestowed on me by God, and implanted by Him in my nature by no choice or device of mine own, till at length the bond of blind conformity was loosed from me, and the beliefs which I had inherited were broken away when I was yet little more than a boy."
Suflism, then, by reason or that quietism, eclecticism and latitudinarianism which are amongst its most characteristic features, is the very antithesis, in many ways, to such definite doctrines as the Manichaean, the Isma'ili, and others, and would be more justly described as an indefinite immobility than as a definite movement. This point is often overlooked, and
RELATION TO OTHER SECTS 423
even scholars — especially such as have never visited the East — often speak of such sects as the Isma'ilis or the Babi's of to-day as though they were akin to the Siiffs, whereas a great hostility usually exists between them, the natural antagonism between dogmatism and eclecticism. The Babfs in particular equal their Shf'ite foes in their hatred of the Sufi's, whose point of view is quite incompatible with the exclusive claims of a positive and dogmatic creed, and this same abhorrence of the Suff latitudinarianism is very noticeable in the writings of the Christian missionary Henry Martyn. As for the ShI'ite mul/ds, their general attitude towards the Sufi's is admirably depicted by Morier in the twentieth chapter of his incomparable Hajji Baba. Yet Svifiism has at various times, more especially, perhaps, in Sunn! countries, stood the orthodox in good stead, and any one who is familiar with the Mathnaiul of that greatest of all the Stiff poets, Jalalu'd-Dfn Rumi, will recall passages directed against the Mu'tazilites, philosophers, and other free-thinkers. And many of those who suffered death for their religious opinions, though subsequently canonised by the Sufis, were in reality the exponents of various heretical doctrines ; as was the case, for instance, with Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj (of whom something will be said later in this chapter), who appears to have been a dangerous and able intriguer, in close touch with the Carmathians ; with Shaykh Shihabu'd-Dm Yahya Suhrawardf "the Martyr" (al-Maqtul, put to death in A.D. 1191), the author of the Hikmatul-hhrAq (" Philosophy of Illumination,") T who, as Jamf tells us (Nafahdt, pp. 683-4) was charged with atheism, heresy, and believing in the ancient philosophers ; with Fadlu'llah the inventor of the Hurufi doctrine,2 who was put to death by Timur in A.D. 1401—2, and his follower Nasfmf,
1 Not to be confounded with Shaykh Shihabu'd-Din 'Umar Suhrawardf, with whom Sa'di was acquainted (Bustdn. ed. Graf, p. 150), and who died in A.D. 1234-5.
1 See my article on this sect in the J. R. A. S. for January, 1898, pp. 61-94 i and Gibb's History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. i, pp. 336-388.
424 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
the Turkish poet, who was flayed alive at Aleppo in A.D. 1417-8. The garb of a Siirl dervish or religious mendicant was one of the most obvious disguises for a heretical propa- gandist to assume, and in fact it was on numerous occasions adopted by the fidtfls of the Assassins.
But even the genuine Sufis differed considerably one from another, for their system was essentially individualistic and little disposed towards propagandism. The fully developed lArif^ " Gnostic " or Adept, had passed through many grades and a long course of discipline under various pirsy munhids, or spiritual directors, ere he had attained to the Gnosis ^Irfan] which viewed all existing religions as more or less faint utter- ances of that great underlying Truth with which he had finally entered into communion ; and he neither conceived it as possible nor desirable to impart his conceptions of this Truth to any save those few who, by a similar training, were prepared to receive it. The three great classes into which Vaughan divides all mystics, the theosophic, the theopathetic, and the theurgic, are all represented amongst the Sufis ; but it is the second which most prevails in the earlier time which we are chiefly considering in this chapter. If we read what is recorded in the hagiologies of al-Qushayrf, al-Yafi'I, Faridu 'd-Din 'Attar, Jamf, and others, concerning the earlier Sufis, such as Ibrahim Adham (t A.D. 777-8), and his contem- poraries Sufydn ath-Thawrf, Da'ud of Tayy, Abu Hashim and the woman Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, or of Fudayl 'lyad (t A.D. 803), Ma'ruf of Karkh (t A.D. 815-6),' Bishr b'. al-Harith (t A.D. 841-2), Ahmad b. Khidrawayh (t A.D. 854-5), al-Muhasibf (t A.D. 857-8), Dhu'n-Nun of Egypt (t A.D. 859-860), Sird as-Saqatf (t A.D. 867) and the like, we find their utterances reflecting little more than a devout quietism, an earnest desire for something deeper and more satisfying to ardent souls than the formalism generally prevalent in Islam, and a passionate love of God for His own sake, not for the sake of the rewards or punishments
APHORISMS 425
which He may bestow. The following sayings, taken almost at random from the biographies of some of the above- mentioned devotees given by 'Attar in his Tadhkirattil- Awllya and by J&m( in his Nafahdt and Baharistdn will sufficiently serve to illustrate this point.
Sayings of Ibrdhim Adham. "O God, Thou knowest that in mine eyes the Eight Paradises weigh no more than the wing of a gnat compared with that honour which Thou hast shown me in giving me Thy love, or that familiarity which Thou hast given to me by the commemoration of Thy Name, or that freedom from all else which Thou hast vouchsafed to me when I meditate on the Greatness of Thy Glory." ('Attar.)
Being once asked why he had abandoned his kingdom of Balkh, he replied —
" One day I was seated on the throne when a mirror was presented to me. I looked therein, and perceived that my destination was the tomb, wherein I should have no friend to cheer me, and that I had before me a long journey for which I had made no provision. I saw a Just Judge, and myself equipped with no proof, and my kingdom grew distasteful to my heart." (Attdr.)
A man offered him ten thousand dirhamsy but he refused them, saying —
" Wouldst thou for such a sum of money erase my name from the register of Dervishes?" ('Attdr.')
"Three veils must be removed from before the Pilgrim's heart ere the Door of Happiness is opened to him. First, that should the dominion of both worlds be offered to him as an Eternal Gift, he should not rejoice, since whosoever rejoiceth on account of any created thing is still covetous, and ' the covetous man is debarred ' (from the knowledge of God). ' The second veil is this, that should he possess the dominion of both worlds, and should it be taken from him, he should not sorrow for his empoverishment, for this is the sign of wrath, and ' he who is in wrath is tormented.' The third is that he should not be beguiled by any praise or favour, for whoever is so beguiled is of mean spirit, and such an one is veiled (from the Truth) : the Pilgrim must be high-minded." ('Attar.)
426 THE $tfFJ MYSTICISM
Sayings of Sufy an alh-Thawri. "When the dervish frequents the rich, know that he is a hypocrite ; but when he frequents kings, know that he is a thief." (Attar.)
" Glory be to that God who slays our children, and takes away our wealth, and whom withal we love." (Attdr.)
" If thou art better pleased when one saith unto thee, ' Thou art a fine fellow,' than when one saith unto thee, ' Thou art a rascal,' then know that thou art still a bad man." ('Altar.)
Sayings of Rdbi'a al-'Adawiyya. "The fruit of Wisdom is to turn one's face towards God." ('Atldr.)
" O God ! Give to Thine enemies whatever Thou hast assigned to me of this world's goods, and to Thy friends whatever Thou hast assigned to me in the Life of the Hereafter, for Thou Thyself art sufficient for me." (Atfdr.)
" I ask God's forgiveness for my lack of faithfulness in asking His forgiveness." (Jdmi.)
" O God ! If I worship Thee for fear of Hell, send me to Hell ; and if I worship Thee in hopes of Paradise, withhold Paradise from me ; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, then withhold not from me the Eternal Beauty." (Atldr.)
Sayings of Fudayl b. 'lydd. " I worship God in love, because I cannot refrain from worshipping Him." (Jdmi.)
" I would that I were ill, so that I need not attend congregational prayers, for 'there is safety in solitude.'" ('Atldr.)
" Whoever fears to be alone and craves for men's society is far from salvation." ('Attdr.)
" All things fear him who fears God, while he who fears aught else but God is in fear of all things." ('Atldr.)
It would be easy to multiply these aphorisms of the early Sufis a hundredfold, but they are sufficient to illustrate the main characteristics of Muhammadan mysticism in its earliest stage : to wit, asceticism, quietism, intimate and personal love of God, and disparagement of mere lip-service or formal worship. This ascetic Sufiism is regarded by von Kremer as the early Arabian type, which, if influenced at all from without, was influenced rather by Christian monasticism than by Persian, Greek or Indian ideas.
It is with Suffs like Abu Yazfd (Bayazfd) of Bisram, a Persian, and the great-grandson of a Magian (his grandfather
BAYAZ/D AND JUNAYD 427
Adam being the first of the family to embrace Isldm), and Junayd of Baghdad (also, according to Jamf, a Persian), called Sayyidttt-Taifa, "the Chief of the Community" that, in the latter part of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth centuries of our era, the pantheistic element first makes its definite appearance. The former is said J to have declared that he was " an unfathomable ocean, without beginning and without end ; " that he was the Throne (larsh) of God, the " Preserved Tablet " (lawh-i-mahfiidh\ the " Pen " or Creative Word of God, the prophets Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and the Archangels Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil ; " for," added he, " whatever attains to True Being is absorbed into God and becomes God." " Praise be to Me," he is reported to have said on another occasion ; " I am the Truth ; I am the True God ; I must be celebrated by Divine Praises." 'Attar also reports him as saying, "Verily I am God : there is no God but me, therefore worship me ; " and adds that " when his words waxed great, so that the formalists could not stomach them, seven times in succession they thrust him forth from Bistam." Yet he remarked on one occasion, "Should I speak of my greater experiences, you could not bear to hear them ; there- fore I tell you only somewhat of the lesser ones."
Junayd spoke much in the same fashion. " For thirty years," said he, " God spoke with mankind by the tongue of Junayd, though Junayd was no longer there, and men knew it not." " The supreme degree of the Doctrine of the Divine Unity is the denial of the Divine Unity." In short, with these men, whom the Sufis reckon amongst their greatest teachers, a very thorough-going pantheism is sirperadded to the quietism of the older mystics. The transition is in reality a natural one : from regarding God as the only proper object of love and subject of meditation ; man as a mere instrument under His controlling Power, "like the pen in the hands of the scribe ; " and the Spiritual Life alone as important, to 1 See the article Sufi in Hughes's Dictionary of hldm.
428 THE Sl)Fl MYSTICISM
regarding God as the One Reality and the Phenomenal World as a mere Mirage or Shadow of Being, is but a short step. It is noteworthy that both Bayazid and Junayd were Persians, and may very likely have imported into the mysticism which they so ardently embraced ideas long endemic in their country, for it was certainly the Persian Suffs who went to the greatest lengths in developing the Pantheistic aspect of Sufiism; yet we must bear in mind that, as appears from a study of other forms of Mysticism, the step from Quietism to Pantheism is neither long nor difficult.
Here it behoves us to say something of the celebrated Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, who, as has been already hinted, was probably, to judge by the oldest and most credible records, a much less innocuous teacher than even the more advanced Sufis, though by the later mystics, such as Faridu'd-Dm 'Attar, Hafidh, and the like, he is regarded as a hero, whose only fault, if fault he had, was " that he divulged the secret." Of this man, who flourished at the beginning of the tenth century, and was put to death for heterodoxy during the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir in A.D. 922, chiefly, as commonly asserted, because in one of his ecstasies he had cried out, " I am the Truth ! " (/.*., God), the most circumstantial of the older accounts are given in the Fihrist (pp. 190-192), and in 'Arib's Supplement to Tabari's History (ed. de Goeje, pp. 86-108), to which Ibn Miskawayh's narrative is appended by the learned editor. According to the Fihnst he was a Persian, but whether of NIshapur, Merv, Taliqan, Ray, or Kiihistan is uncertain. He is there described as "a wily fellow, expert in conjuring, affecting the doctrines of the Sufis, adorning his discourse with their expressions, and claiming acquaintance with every science, though in fact devoid of all. He knew something of Alchemy, and was an ignorant, pushing, headstrong fellow, over-bold against authorities, meddling in high matters, eager to subvert governments, claiming divinity amongst his disciples, preaching the Doctrine of Incarnation, pretending to kings that he was
HUSA YN IBN MANSIJR AL-HALlAj 429
of the Shi'a, and to the common folk that he held the opinions of the Sufis . . . claiming that the Deity had become incar- nate in him, and that he was God (Mighty and Holy is He, and far above what such as these assert ! )." Being arrested in the course of his wanderings (in A.D. 913, according to Tabari, iii, p. 2289), he was examined by Abu'l-Hasan 'AH b. 'Isa, the wazlr of the Caliph al-Muqtadir, who found him " totally ignorant of the Qur'an and its ancillary sciences of Jurispru- dence, Tradition, &c., and of Poetry and Arabic philology," and told him that " it would be better for him to study how to purify himself and observe the obligations of Religion than to compose treatises in which he knew not what he said, uttering such wild rhapsodies as, ' There descendeth the effulgent Lord of Light, who flasheth after His shining,' * and the like." After being affixed for a while (apparently with cords, not nails) to a cross or gibbet first on one and then on the other side of the Tigris in the presence of the soldiers of the guard, he was com- mitted to prison, where he strove to win favour by conforming in some measure to the Sunnite ritual. He was originally one of the missionaries or propagandists of 'All ar-Rida, the Eighth Imdm of the ShI'a of the "Sect of the Twelve," in which capacity he was arrested and punished by scourging in Kuh- istdn, in Persia. He attempted to win over Abu Sahl -Naw- Bakhti, who offered to believe in him, together with many others, if he would produce from the air not an ordinary dirham, but one inscribed with his name and that of his father ; but this al-Hallaj declined to attempt. He pretended to perform miracles, such as stretching forth his hand into the air and withdrawing it filled with musk or coins, which he scattered amongst the spectators. The titles of forty-six of his books and treatises are enumerated in the Fihrist (p. 192), and
1 The Arabic MS. Add. 9692 in the British Museum (ff. 317 to end) con- tains a considerable quantity of his rhapsodies, which, so far as I have examined them, are very much in the style of this citation.
430 THE SIJF1 MYSTICISM
in one of them, it is said, occurred the words, "/ am He who drowned the people of Noah and destroyed iAd and Thamud." l
The first appearance of al-Hallaj, according to the same authority, was in A.D. 911—2, ten years before his cruel execu- tion in A.D. 922. - He was betrayed at Siis by a woman who had observed from her house the assemblies which frequented his domicile, and, though he strove to deny his identity, he was recognised by one of his former disciples by a certain scar resulting from a wound on his head. After he had been scourged with a thousand stripes, and his hands and feet cut off, he was put to death, and his body burnt with fire.
According to 'A rib, al-Hallaj pretended to be all things to all men — aSunni to the Sunnfs, a ShW to the Shi'a, and a Mu'tazi- lite to the Mu'tazilites. Medicine, as well as '^"af-flaiSj!1* Alchemy and Conjuring, is numbered amongst his accomplishments. He claimed to be an In- carnation of God, " and grievous were his calumnies against God and His apostles." To his disciples he would say, to one, " Thou art Noah ; " to another, " Thou art Moses ; " to another, " Thou art Muhammad ; " adding, " I have caused their spirits to return to your bodies." The historian as-Sulf, who had himself repeatedly met al-Hallaj, described him as "an ignorant fellow who pretended to be clever, an unready speaker who would pass as eloquent, and a rogue w ho clothed himself in woollen raiment (suf] and made a parade of piety." 2
To what has been said about him, Ibn Miskawayh and the Kitabul-*- Uyitn (cited by de Goeje at the foot of 4Arib's less detailed notice) add the following particulars. The atten- tion of Hamid the wazir was directed to al-Hallaj by rumours of the influence which he was obtaining over the lower grades
1 Two idolatrous tribes of the ancient Arabs to whom were sent respec- tively the Prophets Hud and Salih, and who for their obstinate unbelief were destroyed, the one by a violent tempest, the other by a terrible noise from heaven. See Qur'an, Sura vii.
2 See what is said as to the derivation of the word Sufi on p. 417 supra.
HUSA YN IBN MAN$UR AL-HALlAj 431
of officials and the common folk, who believed that he raised the dead to life, compelled the jinn to serve him and to bring him whatever he pleased, and performed such A°Misknawayhbn m'racles of the former prophets as he pleased. Three persons, one as-Simari, a scribe and a Ha- shimite, were indicated as his " prophets " (nabt}^ he himself claiming to be God ; and these, being arrested and interrogated by Hdmid, admitted that they were his mission- aries and regarded him as God, able to raise the dead to life. All this was strenuously denied by al-Hallaj, who was at this time confined in prison, but allowed to receive whom he would, and who, besides his proper name, was known by the alias of Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Farisi. A daughter of his " prophet" as-Simari gave a detailed and most damaging statement of his sayings and practices, and in the houses of as-Simari, Haydara, and al-Qunna'i the Hashimite were found many of his writings, some inscribed with gold on Chinese paper,1 brocade and silk, and richly bound in morocco. Then two of his missionaries in Khurasan, named Ibn Bishr and Shakir, were arrested, and the instructions which al-Hallaj had issued to them and his other agents were found, whereby the case was made heavier against him. Other of his pretended miracles are related, as, for instance, how he could expand his body so as to fill the whole room where he was, and how he restored a dead parrot to life for the Caliph al-Muqtadir, who was so far impressed by his achievements that he was very unwilling to consent to his death. Al-Hallaj was a great traveller, and visited India in order to see the celebrated Rope Trick, in which a rope is thrown up into the air and the performer (in this Case a woman) climbs up it and disappears. Another of the heresies discovered by Hamid in his books consisted in elaborate in- structions whereby the ceremony of the Pilgrimage could be performed anywhere, in a room specially prepared for the
1 Compare what is said of the books of the Manichaeans on p. 165 supra.
432 THE StiFI MYSTICISM
purpose ; which heresy, along with others, he pretended to have derived from the writings of Hasan of Basra. On this he was condemned to the cruel death above mentioned ("scours:-
V O
ing, amputation, decapitation and cremation), and the execution thereof was entrusted to the Captain of the Guard (Sahibii sh-Shurta] Muhammad b. 'Abdu's-Samad, who was specially cautioned not to give ear or pay heed to anything that he might say. After his head had been exposed for a while on the bridge over the Tigris, it was sent to Khurasan ; but his disciples there maintained (as did the Gnostics, and after them the Muhammadans, concerning Christ) r that not he, but one of his foes transformed into his likeness, suffered death and mutilation ; and some of them even pretended to have seen and conversed with him since his reported death. The book- sellers were made to take an oath that they would neither buy nor sell any of his writings. The period of his captivity from his first arrest till his execution was eight years seven months and eight days.
The following further particulars from al-Hamadhanl are added by de Goeje at the foot of his edition of 'Anb (pp. 96- 101). Al-Hallaj's disciple as-Siman, examined by Hamid, stated that his master had in mid-winter, when travelling with him near Istakhr in Fars, produced a fresh cucumber for him out of the snow, and that he had actually eaten it ; whereupon Hamid cursed him for a liar and commanded those who were present to smite him on the mouth. Another witness stated that the fruits apparently produced from nothing by al-Hallaj turned to dung as soon as men took them in their hands. There was a great flood in the Tigris shortly after his execution, and his followers declared that this was because the ashes of his burnt body had been cast into the river; while some of them pre- tended to have seen him on the road to Nahruwan riding on an ass, and to have heard him say that a beast transformed into his likeness had undergone the punishment destined for him. 1 See Qur'an, iv, 156,
HUSA KV IBN MANSUR AL-HALlAj 433
Amongst the Arabic verses of al-Hallaj cited are the follow- ing (P- 97) :~
"Ne'er f ot my heart did I comfort or pleasure or peace obtain: Wherefore, indeed, should I seek them, prepared as I was for
pain f
I mounted the steed of a perilous quest, and wonder is mine At him who hopeth in hazardous pathivays safely to gain.
'Tis as though I were caught in waves which toss me about. Now up, now down, now down, now up in the perilous main. There burns a fire in my vitals, there dwells a grief in my
heart ; Summon my eyes to witness, for my tears bear witness plain"
Some of the Siiffs, adds al-Hamadhdnf, claim that to al-Hallaj was revealed the Mystery, yea the Mystery of all Mysteries. He is reported to have said, " O God, Thou lovest even such as vex Thee : how then shalt Thou not love such as are afflicted for Thy sake ?" On one occasion Ibn Nasr al-Qushun was sick, and desired to eat an apple, but none were to be obtained, till al-Hallaj stretched forth his hand and drew it back with an apple which he claimed to have gathered from the gardens of Paradise. " But," objected a bystander, " the fruit of Paradise is incorruptible, and in this apple there is a maggot." "This," answered al-Hallaj, " is because it hath come forth from the Mansion of Eternity to the Abode of Decay : therefore to its heart hath corruption found its way ! " The author adds that those present applauded his answer more than his achievement ; and, after reporting a conversation between him and ash-Shibli, states that the name al-tlalldj (" the wool-carder ") was meta- phorical, and was given to him because he could read man's most secret thoughts, and extract from their hearts the kernel of their imaginings as the wool-carder separates the cotton- grains from the cotton. Others, however, say that the name was given to him by a wool-carder at Wasifc whom he had miraculously assisted in his work. The Stiffs differ as to whether he was of them or not. During his execution a
29
434 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
woman named Fatima of Nishapur was sent to him by ash- Shibll (a recognised saint of the Sufis) to ask him, amongst other things, what Sufiism was ; to which he replied : " That which is mine, for by God I never distinguished for a moment between pleasure and pain ! "
The following additional particulars from Ibnu'l-Jawzi are also given by de Goeje at the foot of 'Arlb's text (pp. 101-8). On Wednesday and Thursday, December 1-2, A.D. 912, al-Hallaj was crucified alive on the east shore of the Tigris, and on the two following days on the west side.1 In the following year (having, it would appear, been released after this first severe punishment) he was arrested again at Siis with one or his followers, and brought into Baghdad on a camel as a public spectacle, while a herald proclaimed before him, " This is one of the dfrh of the Carmathians : take note of him ! " His subsequent examination before the wazir 'AH b. clsd is described as on p. 429 supra, and his second crucifixion and imprisonment. Again, under the year A.H. 309 (A.D. 921-2), in recording his death, the same author adds some further details. Al-Hallaj, whose grandfather is said to have been a Magian of Bayda ("the White Castle," Dizh-i-Sapla] in Fars, was brought up in Wasit or Shushtar. Later he came to Baghdad, and associated with the Sufis, including their great Shaykhs al-Junayd and Sufyan ath-Thawri. Then he travelled widely in India, Khurasan, Transoxiana, and Turkistdn. Men differ concerning him, some regarding him
1 The later Sufis generally imply that he was put to death by crucifixion, being possibly influenced by a desire of establishing a resemblance between him and Christ. In A.H. 1305 (A.D. 1887-8) there was actually published at Bombay a collection of Persian poems purporting to be by Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj, and to this impudent forgery is prefixed a rude woodcut of Christ on the Cross (evidently taken from some Christian book), surmounted by a well-known verse from the Mathnawi of Jalalu'd- Din Rumi to this effect : —
" Whene'er the unjust judge controls the pen, Some Mansur dies upon the gibbet then."
HUSA YN IBN MANSER AL-HALlAj 435
as a magician, others as a saint able to work wonders, and others as an impostor. The opinion of Abu Bakr as-Suli concerning him, recorded on p. 430 supray is cited again in nearly the same words. " His professed object in visiting India was, according to a contemporary traveller who sailed in the same ship with him, to study magic ; and he declared himself able to compose verses equal to those of the Qur'dn — rank blas- phemy worthy of death in the eyes of all good Muslims ! Ibnu'l-Jawzi then mentions that he had composed a mono- graph on the sayings and doings of al-Hallaj, to which he refers the reader for further information. The same heresies (Incarnation, " Return " or Re-incarnation, and Anthropo- morphism) are charged against al-Hallaj as by the authors already cited. His execution is stated to have taken place on Tuesday, March 26, A.D. 922. He walked fearlessly and even exultingly to the place of execution, reciting the following verses (see p. 363 supra] : —
"My Friend doth unrelated stand to aught of ruth or clemency: From His own cup He bade me sup, for such is hospitality ! But when the Wine had circled round, for sword and carpet *
called He. Who with the Dragon drinketh Wine in Summer, such his fate
shall be/"
Just before his head was struck off, he bade his disciples be of good cheer, for he would return to earth again in thirty days. Three years later three of his disciples, Haydara, ash-Shalranf, and Ibn Mansiir, who refused to renounce their belief in him, were decapitated and crucified by Ndziik, the Captain of the Guard.
1 The nat', or executioner's carpet, is a large circular piece of skin or leather, round the margin of which are holes or eyes through which a cord is run. By tightening this cord the carpet is made concave, so as to catch the blood ; and when the victim's head has been struck off the cord is drawn quite tight, so that a bag is formed in which the remains are removed.
436 THE StfFl MYSTICISM
Adh-Dhahabi also wrote a monograph (probably no longer extant) on al-Hallaj, and in his Annah he speaks briefly of him as consorting with al-Junayd, 'Amr b. 'Uthman al-Maklci and other Sufi Shaykhs, and feigning an ascetic life, but being led astray by his megalomania and love of power until he "quitted the circle of the Faith." Nevertheless, says this author, many of the later Sufis almost deify him, and even the great " Proof of Isldm " al-Ghazzalf in his Mhhkatttl-Anwar makes excuses for him, " explaining away his sayings in a sense admirable enough, but far removed from the obvious meaning of the Arabic language. He is also mentioned by Abu Sacid an-Naqqash in his History of the Shfis as accused by some of magical practices and by others of heresy (zindiqa]y and indeed the general view of some half-dozen other writers of authority cited by adh-Dhahabi is to the effect that al-Hallaj was " a detestable infidel " (Kafir khablth}.
I have dwelt thus fully on the oldest and most authentic accounts of this remarkable man because he became one of the favourite heroes and saints of most of the later Sufis, the Persian mystical poets in particular constantly referring to him with approval and even enthusiasm. Moreover, he may probably be credited with introducing to a large extent the more avowedly pantheistic and thaumaturgic forms of Sufiism with which henceforth we constantly meet. Faridu'd-Din 'Attar speaks of him in his Memoirs of the Saints as " that Martyr of God in the Way of God, that Lion of the Thicket of the Search after Truth . . . that Diver in the Tempestuous Sea," &c., praises his character and attainments, celebrates his miracles, and adds that " some charge him with practising magic, while some externalists denounce him as an infidel." "I am astonished," he remarks a little lower, alluding to Moses and the Burning Bush, "at those who consider it proper that the words, * Verily I am God,' should come from a Tree which was as though non-existent, and who yet regard it as improper that the words, 4 1 am the Truth,' should come
PERSIAN StfFJ POETS 437
from the Tree of Husayn b. Mansur's being when Husayn was no longer there." * Abu Sa'id b. Abi'l-Khayr, the earliest Persian mystical poet, declared that al-Hallaj was unequalled in his time, either in the East or the West, in the exaltation of his ecstasies ; 2 and Jamf, who cites this opinion, as well as Hafidh and most of the later mystics, speak in similar terms of admiration.
It was at a later period, probably during the latter part of the eleventh century, that Sufiism was gradually moulded by al-GhazzaU and others into a more or less philosophical system, and was also, to a considerable extent, brought into alliance with orthodoxy. In this connection it is a notable fact that Sana'i, 'Attar, and Jalalu'd-Din Rumi, the three greatest of the older Persian mystical poets, were all Sunnis ; their poems abound with laudatory mentions of Abu Baler and 'Umar, and they are the declared foes of the Mu'tazilites and Philosophers ; while the greatest Shi'ite poets of Persia in early times, Firdawsi and Nasir-i-Khusraw the Isma'ili, had little of the §ufi about them. Besides Firdawsf we find mentioned in that section of the Majalisul-Muminin^ or " Assemblies of [ShHte] Believers," which deals with Persian poets claimed as their own by the ShI'a, the following names : Asadf, Ghada'iH of Ray, Pindar (or Bundar) of Ray, Abu'l-Mafakhir of Ray, Qiwdmf of Ray, Khaqanf of Shfrwan, Anwar{, Salman of Sawa, Yamfnu'd-Din of Faryiimad, and practically no other early poets of any eminence. Even the great SaMi's grave at SMraz is neglected, and has been insulted, by his later compatriots because he is known to have been a Sunnf.3 The immense popularity enjoyed by Jalalu'd-Dfn Rumf in Turkey, where his Mathnawi is the object of the most affectionate and careful
1 He means that the Being of both these veils of Theophany was over- shadowed and absorbed, as it were, by the Divine Effulgence which was manifested in them. • Jami's Nafahdt, p. 169.
s See my Year amongst the Persians, pp. 281-2.
438 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
study, especially amongst the Mevlevi (or so-called " Dancing ") Dervishes, who take their name from him, their great "Master"' (Mevla, the Turkish pronunciation of Mawld\ is no doubt due in great measure to the fact that, apart from his transcendental rhapsodies, he is "orthodox." And here it may be added that all dervishes or faqirs (both words meaning " poor," i,e.y religious mendicants who have embraced a life of voluntary poverty for God's sake) are professedly more or less Sufis, though many of them are, of course, ignorant fellows, who, notwithstanding their glib talk of "ecstasies," "stations," and " Annihilation in God," have very little comprehension of the real scope and purport of the Suff doctrine.
Of this doctrine it is necessary in conclusion to give a brief sketch, premising that in the form in which it is here presented it is to some extent the product of a later age, and is to be found most fully elaborated in the works of poets like 'Iraqi' and Jamf. in Arabic the poems of 'Umar ibnu'l-Farid and the voluminous writings of the great mystic of the West Shaykh Muhyiyyu'd-Dfn ibnu'l-'Arabi have not yet received the attention they merit from students of Sufiism who choose to regard it as essentially and exclusively Persian in its origin, and who consequently confine their attention to its Persian manifestations.
The Sufi system starts from the conception that not only
True Being, but Beauty and Goodness, belong exclusively to
God, though they are manifested in a thousand
The Sufi system. . _. , TTr . .
God aione mirrors in the Phenomenal World. " God was,
really exists. r . .
says one or their favourite aphorisms, " and there was naught beside Him ; " to which are sometimes added the words, " and it is now even as it was then" God, in short, is Pure Being, and what is "other than God" (ma siwtfu'llah} only exists in so far as His Being is infused into it, or mirrored in it. He is also Pure Good (Khayr-i-mahd) and Absolute Beauty : whence He is often called by the mystics in their pseudo-erotic poems, "the Real Beloved," "the Eternal
439
Darling," and the like. Thus Jamf says, in a passage of which I have published a full translation in another place I: —
" Whatever heart
Doth yield to Love, He charms it. In His love The heart hath life. Longing for Him, the soul Hath victory. That heart which seems to love The fair ones of this world loves Him alone. Beware ! Say not, ' He is All-Beautiful, And we His lovers !' Thou art but the glass, And He the Face confronting it which casts Its image in the mirror. He alone Is manifest, and thou in truth art hid. Pure Love, like Beauty, coming but from Him, Reveals itself in thee. If steadfastly Thou canst regard, thou wilt at length perceive He is the Mirror also ; He alike The Treasure and the Casket. ' I' and 'Thou' Have here no place, and are but phantasies Vain and unreal."
This, then, is how the Sufis understand the Doctrine of the
Divine Unity (Tawhld] : not merely is there " no god but
God," as the Muhammadan profession of Faith
Bcingnand°phe- declares, but there is nothing but God. The
contingent World of Phenomena and of the Senses is a mere Mirage — a reflection of Being on Not- Being, manifesting the Attributes of Being as the reflection manifests its original, but not really participating in its nature. An illustration commonly employed by the Sufis is that of the Sun (which typifies Being) reflected in a pool of water (Not- Being). The reflection of the Sun (the Phenomenal World) is entirely " contingent " : it may be blotted out instantly by a passing cloud, or marred by a sudden gust of wind ; it is entirely dependent on the Sun, while the Sun is absolutely independent of it ; yet, while it lasts, it more or less faithfully
1 Religious Sy terns of the World (Swan Sonnenschein, 1892), pp. 314- 332 : an article on $ufiistn originally delivered as a lecture at the South Place Ethical Institute.
440 THE SUFI MYSTICISM
reveals the Nature and Attributes of its Unchanging Prototype. This idea is finely expressed in one of the odes of Shams-i- Tabrfz, rendered into English verse by my friend Mr. R. A. Nicholson (pp. cit., p. 343) : —
" Poor copies out of heaven's original, Pale earthly pictures mouldering to decay, What care although your beauties break and fall, When that which gave them life endures for aye ?"
It is the essential nature of Beauty to desire to reveal and manifest itself, which quality it derives from the Eternal Beauty. "/ was a Hidden Treasure" God is Causetion.Crea" described by the Sufis as saying to David, "ana I wished to be known, so I created creation that I might be known." Now a thing can only be known through its opposite — Light by Darkness, Good by Evil, Health by Sick- ness, and so on ; hence Being could only reveal itself The Nature of through Not Being, and through the product of this admixture (to use a not very accurate expres- sion), namely, the Phenomenal World. Thus Eternal Beauty manifests itself, as it were, by a sort of self-negation ; and what we call "Evil" is a necessary consequence of this manifestation, so that the Mystery of Evil is really identical with the Mystery of Creation, and inseparable therefrom. But Evil must not be regarded as a separate and independent entity : just as Darkness is the mere negation of Light, so Evil is merely the Not-Good, or, in other words, the Non- Existent. All Phenomenal Being, on the other hand, neces- sarily contains some elements of Good, just as the scattered rays of the pure, dazzling white light which has passed through the prism are still light, their light more or less "coloured" and weakened. It is from this fall from the "World of Colourlessness" (fdlam-i-bl-rangi) that all the strife and conflict apparent in this world result, as it is said in the Mathnawl : —
441
" When Colourlessness became the captive of Colour, A Moses was at war with a Moses." *
And so speaks Jami : —
" Thou art Absolute Being; all else is naught but a Phantasm, For in Thy universe all things are one. Thy world-captivating Beauty, to display its perfections, Appears in thousands of mirrors, but it is one. Although Thy Beauty accompanies all the beautiful, In truth the Unique and Incomparable Heart-enslaver is one. All this turmoil and strife in the world is from love of Him : It hath now become known that the Ultimate Source of the Mischief is one."
From another aspect, which harmonises better with the Neo-Platonist doctrine (to which, as we have already seen, Sufiism was apparently so much indebted for its later more philosophical form), the Grades of Being may be conceived of as a series of Emanations, which become weaker, more unreal, more material and less luminous as they recede further from the Pure Light of Absolute Being.
So far we have spoken chiefly of the " Arc of Descent," but there is also the " Arc of Ascent," whereby Man, the final product of this evolutionary chain, returns to his original home, and, by " Annihilation in God " (Fa na f?llah\ is once more merged in the Divine Essence which is the only True Being : as it is said, " Everything returns to its Source" Here it is that the Ethics, as opposed to the Metaphysics, of Sufn'sm begin. Evil is, as we have seen, illusion ; its cure is to get rid of the ignorance which causes us to take the Phantasms of the World of Sense for Realities. All sinful desire, all sorrow and pain, have their root in the idea of Self, and Self is an illusion. The first and greatest step in the Sufi "Path " (Tarlqat) is, then, to
1 I.e., with Pharaoh, who is conceived of by Jalalu'd-DIn as " walking in the right way" with Moses, though seemingly opposed to him, and yet bitterly lamenting this apparent antagonism. See Whinfield's Masnavi (abridged translation, Triibner, 1898, second ed.), pp. 37-38.
442 THE StfFf MYSTICISM
escape from self, and even an earthly love may, to some extent, effect this deliverance. It is here especially that the emotional character of Sufiism, so different from the cold and bloodless theories of the Indian philosophies, is apparent. Love here, as with so many of the Mystics in all ages and all countries, is the Sovereign Alchemy, transmuting the base metal of humanity into the Divine Gold. Once more let Jdmi speak : — *
"Though in this world a hundred tasks thou tryest, 'Tis Love alone which from thyself will save thee. Even from earthly love thy face avert not, Since to the Real it may serve to raise thee. Ere A, B, C, are rightly apprehended, How canst thou con the pages of the Qur'an ? A sage (so heard I) unto whom a scholar Came craving counsel on the course before him, Said, ' If thy steps be strangers to Love's pathways, Depart, learn love, and then return before me ! For, should'st thou fear to drink wine from Form's flagon, Thou canst not drain the draughts of the Ideal. But yet beware ! Be not by Form belated ; Strive rather with all speed the bridge to traverse. If to the bourn thou fain would'st bear thy baggage Upon the bridge let not thy footsteps linger.'"
Hence the Sufis say : " Al-majazu qantaratul-Haqiqat " (" The Phantasmal is the Bridge to the Real ") : by the typal love the Pilgrim (salik) learns to forget self and to see only the beloved, until he at length realises that what he loves in his beloved is a mere dim reflection of the Eternal Beauty, which "appears in thousands of mirrors, yet is but One." Of this rather than of the cold metaphysics of Buddhism might Sir Edwin Arnold have been writing where he says2: —
1 The passage is more fully given on p. 326 of Religions Systems of the World (Swan Sonnenschein, 1892). 3 Light of Asia (ed. 1882, Triibner), pp. 226,
"ANNIHILATION IN GOD" 443
"For love to clasp Eternal Beauty close,
For glory to be Lord of self, for pleasure To live beyond the gods ; for countless wealth To lay up lasting treasure
Of perfect service rendered, duties done In charity, soft speech, and stainless days :
These riches shall not fade away in life, Nor any death dispraise.
While his equally beautiful definition of Nirvana I admirably describes the Sufi idea of " Annihilation in God " : —
"Seeking nothing, he gains all; Foregoing self, the Universe grows ' I ' :
If any teach Nirvana is to cease, Say unto such they lie.
If any teach Nirvana is to live, Say unto such they err, not knowing this,
Nor what light shines beyond their broken lamps, Nor lifeless, timeless bliss."
Sufiism has been discussed by other writers so much more fully than most of the topics mentioned in these pages that I do not propose to devote more space to it in this volume. As already remarked, it essentially differs from most of the creeds hitherto described in its latitudinarian and non-proselytising character. It seeks not so much to convert those of other faiths as to understand what particular aspect of Truth each of these creeds represents. How it understands the Muhammadan doctrine of the Divine Unity we have already seen. In the Dualism of the Magians and the Manichaeans it sees typified the interaction of Being and Not Being wherefrom the Phenomenal World results. The Christian Trinity typifies the Light of Being, the Mirror of the purified human soul, and the Rays of the Divine Outpouring. Even from Idolatry
1 Light of Asia, p. 231.
444 THE SI) Ft MYSTICISM
there are lessons to be learned.1 How far removed is this attitude of mind from that of the dogmatic and exclusive creeds which have hitherto occupied our attention ! a
* See Religions Systems of the World, p. 325.
a As this subject is of great importance for the understanding of much that is best in Persian literature, I here enumerate some of the best books and treatises on it to which the European reader can refer. I. Trans- lations.— 'Atiar'sMantiqu't-Tayr (" Language of Birds"), French translation by Garcin de Tassy, Paris, 1864 ; Jalalu'd-Din Riimi's Mathnawf, abridged translation by E. Whinfield (2nd ed., London, Triibner, 1898) ; Shabistari's Giilshan-i-Rdz (" Rose-garden of Mystery"), ed. and transl. by Whinfield, Triibner, 1880, one of the best Oriental manuals, with excellent Introduction and illuminating comments ; Jami's Yusuf-u-Zulaykhd, ed. and German transl. by V. von Rosenzweig (Vienna, 1824) ; Hafidh, Diwdn, ed. and German translation by Rosenzweig-Schwannau (Vienna, 1858-1864), and John Payne's English verse transl. published for the Villon Society. II. Original Works. — Tholuck's Ssttfismus, sive Theosophia Persarum Panthe- isiica (Berlin, 1821) ; Ibid., Bluthensammliing aus dcr Morgenlandischcn Mysiik (Berlin, 1825} ; Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics, Book vii ; Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, sub voc. ; my own article in Religious Systems of the World, pp. 314-332 ; Gibb's History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. i (London, Luzac ; 1900), pp. 53-67. Tljese. bjooks will suffice^ to ^giye the general reader an adequate and correct notion of the Sufi system.
CHAPTER XIV
THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA DURING THIS PERIOD
As has been already observed, Arabic continued during the whole of the period which we are now discussing to be the chief literary medium in Persia, not only for prose but for verse. Nevertheless Persian again begins, under those semi- independent dynasties, the Saffarids and Sdmanids, and even under the earlier Tahirids, to be employed as a literary language : more, indeed, for verse than prose, but to some extent for both. In this chapter we shall have to consider chiefly the poets of Persian nationality, first those who used their mother-tongue, and secondly those who employed the Arabic language.
Our authorities ror the latter are fuller, though, with one
exception, not much more accessible, than for the former ; and
the chief one is the Yatlmatud-Dahr (or " Unique
*fflSS£* Pearl of the Age ") of Abu Mansur 'Abdu'l-Malik
(Trrhe Yattma b. Muhammad b. Ismail ath-Tha'alibf I of Nfsha-
of ath-Tha'aiibi. „ . ',,. . . .. T1 _... .... ,
pur in Khurasan, who, according tolbn Khalhkan, was born in A.D. 961 and died in A.D. 1038. This valuable anthology of Arabic verse was published at Damascus in A.D. 1885 and following years in four volumes; of which the fint deals in ten chapters (pp. 536) with the poets of Syria
1 He was called Tha'dlibi (from tha'lab, a fox, pi. iha'dlib) because he was by trade a furrier and dealt in the skins of that animal.
445
446 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
(including the " Circle of Sayfu'd-Dawla," Abu Firas, the House of Hamddn and al-Mutanabbi), Egypt, the Maghrib and Mosul ; the second, in ten chapters (pp. 316), with the poets of Baghdad and Arabian 'Iraq who flourished under the patronage of the noble House of Buwayh ; the third, in ten chapters (pp. 290), with the poets of Persia (except Khurasan), who were patronised by the Buwayhids of Persia and their ministers (notably the Sahib Isma'il b. 'Abbad), and the rulers of Tabar- istdn, especially the Ziydrid Qabus b. Washmgfr, a glowing encomium of whose virtues and talents concludes the volume ; and the fourth and last, also in ten chapters (pp. 332), with the poets of Khurasan and Khwdrazm, who flourished .under the protection of the House of Samdn. This work is a perfect treasury of information as to the literary condition of Persia in this period (circ. A.H. 350-403 = A.D. 961-1012), and gives us an extraordinary idea of the extent to which the Arabic language was cultivated throughout Persia, even as far as Khwdrazm, at this time ; for here we find Persian poets addressing their Persian patrons in excellent Arabic verse, occasionally extemporised on the spur of the moment ; so that it would seem that at this epoch Arabic must have been as well understood in Persia by persons of education as English is in Wales at the present time ; and that there were eloquent Persians then who could wield the Arabic language as skilfully and successfully as several Welsh orators can the English language in this our day. This is certainly a far closer analogy than that afforded by the Greek and Latin verses now produced in England by classical scholars, which, however good they may be, are the outcome of much thought and labour, and lack, I imagine, the quality of spontaneity. In order to ascertain the effect produced by these Arabic verses composed by Persian poets on one whose native language was Arabic, and who knew no Persian, though deeply learned in his own tongue and its literature, I seized the occasion of a visit paid to me at Cambridge two or three summers ago by Shaykh Abu'n-Nasr,
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 447
formerly repetiteur of Arabic at the admirably organised Ecole des Langues Orientates Vivantes of Paris, to read with him some thirty pages of the last volume of the Tatima, dealing with the poets of Khurasan ; and he assured me that the verses were excellent Arabic, and, as a rule, so far as the language went, showed no trace of foreign origin. The lack of Persian verse produced at this epoch does not, then, arise from any lack either of talent or of literary ability, but simply from the fact that it was still the fashion to use Arabic instead of the native speech for literary purposes ; and I cannot help feeling astonished that those who concern themselves with Persian literature (unless they regard literature as merely expressing the speech and not at all the genius of a people) should have hitherto ignored almost entirely this rich field of study, with which those scholars whose interest lies primarily with the Arabs and other Semitic peoples are more naturally disinclined to trouble them- selves. Indeed the only considerable study of the Tatlma (in so far as it concerns Persia) with which I am acquainted is M. Barbier de Meynard's interesting series of articles in the Journal Aiiatique for 1853 (pp. 169-239), and 1854 (pp. 291-361), entitled Tableau Litteraire du Khorassan et de la Tramoxiane au IVe siec/e de /' ' Hegire, which contains a translation of pp. 2-1 14 or the fourth volume of the Tatlma. If we are entitled to look for the Celtic genius in the poems of Moore, Yeats, or Lewis Morris, surely we may expect to discover some characteristics of the Persian mind in these poets, who, though Arabic in speech (at least for literary purposes), were Iranian by race. With the precursors of the Tatlma (such as the Hamdsas ; the "Classes," or Tabaqat, of Ibn Qutayba and Abu 'Abdi'llah
Muhammad b. Sallam al-Jumahf ; the Kitdbul- SihPePK™ma!° AgMni^ &c.),x we need not here further concern
ourselves, but a few words must be said concerning its supplements, which, unfortunately, since they exist only in
1 See the separate reprint of my article on The Sources of Dawlatsfuth in the J. R. A. S. for January, 1899, pp. 47-48.
448 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
rare manuscripts, I have not been able at present to read or examine at leisure. Two only need be mentioned, of which the first and most important is the Dumyatu Th-^T/M '*-$«?r of al-Husayn b. 'AH al-Balcharzf (t A.D. 1074-5). Of this work the British Museum possesses at least two manuscripts (Add. 9994 and Add. 22,374), and its contents are fully described at pp. 265-271 of the old Arabic Catalogue. It comprises seven chapters, of which the first treats of the poets of the Arabian Desert and Hijaz (27 notices) ; the second of the poets of Syria, Diyar Bakr, Mesopotamia, Adharbayjdn, and other lands west of Persia proper (70 notices) ; the third of the poets of 'Iraq (64 notices) ; the fourth of the poets of Ray, al-Jibal, Isfahan, Pars, and Kirman (72 notices) ; the fifth of the poets of Jurjan, Astarabad, Qumis, Dihistan, and Khwarazm (55 notices) ; the sixth of the poets of Khurasan, Kuhistan Bust, Sistan, and Ghazna (225 notices) ; and the seventh of eminent literary men who were not poets (20 notices). In this work one is struck not only by the very large number of natives of Persia who appear as the authors of Arabic verse, but by the essentially Persian names or titles of many of them. Some were recent converts from Zoroastrianism (perhaps in some cases actual Zoroastrians), such as Ibn Mahabzud (i.e.y M&h-afaud) " the Magian " (al-Majusi), and Mahyar b. Marzuya of Daylam, who was converted to Islam in A.D. 1003-4 by the Sharif ar-Radf, a much more famous poet than himself;1 others have names, such as Khusraw Firuz, Durustuya, and Fana-Khusraw (for Panah-fChusraw), or titles, such as DihkhuJa, Div-dadf, so essentially Persian that no doubt as to their origin is possible. Other later works of the same class are the Zaynatuz-Zaman of Shamsu'd-Din Muhammad of Andakhud, the Kharidatu l-^asr of 'Imadu'd- Dln al-Katib al-Isfahani, &c.
1 See de Slane's transl. of Ibn Khallikan, vol. Hi, p. 517 ; and T. W. Arnold's Preaching of Isldm (London, 1896), p. 180.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 449
For the Persian-writing poets of Persia the chief primary authorities now extant are the Chah&r Maq&la, or " Four
Discourses" of the Ghurid court-poet Nidhimf- *&er^aunr-ces i-'Arudf of Satnarqand (written about A.D. 1155), wrthinsgpSof and the Lubdbu'l A Mb of Muhammad «Awfl
(written in the first half of the thirteenth cen- tury). Of the former I published in the J. R. A. S. for 1899
a complete translation (obtainable also as a ttrage- rhuw<u?r &-part\ based on the Tihran lithographed edition
(A.H. 1305 = A.D. 1887-8) and the two British Museum manuscripts (Or. 2,956 and Or. 3507) ; while
the latter, based on the Elliot Codex described by
'Awfi's Lubdb
N. Bland in the J. R. A. 5., vol. ix, pp. 112 ft seqq.^ and the Berlin Codex (Sprenger 318 = No. 637 of Pertsch's Catalogue), will form the next volume of my Persian Historical Text Series.1 Another important work (unfor- tunately, as it would appear, no longer extant) 4-K&*£. was the Manaqibush-Shu'ara ("Traits of the Poets") of Abu Tahir al-Khatunf,* a well-known poet and writer of the Seljuq period. All these authorities were used directly and indirectly by Dawlatshah (wrote in A.D. 1487), and by the later compilers of Tadhkiras ("Memoirs") of the Persian poets; and 'Awff in par- ticular is extensively cited by Rida-quH Khan, the author of one of the most modern and most complete works of this nature, the Majma'ul-Fusahd (2 vols., lith. torttfgw-i- Tihran, A.H. 1295 = A.D. 1878). Another ancient though somewhat scanty source of in- formation, which at least serves to show us how many Persian-
1 The first Codex is now in the possession of the John Rylands Library at Manchester, having been bought in August, 1901, by Mrs. Rylands from Lord Crawford and Balcarres, for whose library it was purchased at the sale of Eland's MSS. To Lord Crawford and to the Berlin Library I am deeply indebted for the liberality with which they placed these rare manuscripts at my disposal in Cambridge.
• See J. R. A. S. for January, 1899, pp. 42-3.
30
450 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
writing poets flourished before the middle of the eleventh century of our era, is the Lughat-i-Furs, or Persian Lexicon, of Asadi of TUS, composed about A.D. 1060, and edited from the old Vatican MS. (Pers. XXII), transcribed in A.D. 1332, by Dr. Paul Horn (Strassburg, 1897). * In this most valuable work verses of some seventy-eight poets, many of them other- wise unknown or scarcely known even by name, are cited.
Having now considered the sources available to us for a study of the literary phenomena presented by Persia at this period, we shall consider first the Persian- and then the Arabic- writing poets who flourished under the Tdhirid, Saffdrid, Sdmdnid, and other contemporary dynasties, deriving our information concerning the former chiefly from 'Awff's Lubdb^ and for the latter from Tha'alibl's Tatlma. The latter work has been already sufficiently described, but, pending the publication of my edition of the latter, some account of its contents is here given.
Of the author of this work, Muhammad 'Awfl, nearly all
that is known will be found on pp. 749-750 of Rieu's
Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British
Description of J
•Awff's LvMbu- Museum. He claimed descent from 'Abdu'r Rah-
'l-Albdb.
man b. 'Awf, one of the six Companions of the Prophet who were appointed by the dying Caliph cUmar to choose his successor from their midst. His repeated references to poets whom he had met at different dates and in different towns in Persia show that he had travelled widely in Khurasan and the neighbouring lands about the beginning of the seventh century of the hijra (circ. A.D. 1200). He subsequently resided in India, first at the Court of Nasiru'd Din Qubacha, and then at that of Shamsu'd-Dm Iltatmish, after the over-
1 Another MS. was discovered by Dr. Ethe amongst the India Office Persian MSS. (No. 2516 = No. 2455 of the forthcoming Catalogue, cols. 1321-1335). This Asadi was the transcriber of the oldest extant Persian MS., the Vienna Codex of Abu Mansur al-Muwaffaq's Pharmacology, edited by Seligmann (Vienna, 1859). This Codex is dated A.H. 447 ( = A.D. 1055-6).
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 451
throw of his former patron by the latter in A.H. 625 ( = A.D. 1228). Besides the Lubab he was the author of a vast collection of stories entitled the yawamPul-Hlkayat, consisting of four books, each comprising twenty-five chapters. The Lubab^ notwithstanding its age, is in some ways a dis- appointing book, owing to the undue prominence which it gives to the poets of Khurasin, and the almost complete lack of biographical particulars. Indeed, it is rather to be regarded as a vast anthology than as a biography. It is divided as follows into twelve chapters, of which the first seven make up vol. i, and the last five the larger and more interesting vol. ii : —
Chapter I. On the Excellence of Poetry.
„ II. Etymology of the word shi'r (Poetry).
„ III. Who first composed poetry.
„ IV. Who first composed poetry in Persian.
„ V. Kings and nobles who wrote verse.
„ VI. Ministers and officials who wrote verse.
„ VII. Theologians, doctors, and scholars who wrote verse.
„ VIII. Poets of the Tahiri, Saffarf, and Samani dyn- asties.
„ IX. Poets of the Ghaznawi dynasty.
„ X. Poets of the Seljuq dynasty.
„ XI. Poets contemporary with the Author.
„ XII. Courtiers contemporary with the Author who wrote verses.
The first volume, which deals with those who were not poets by profession, contains about 122 notices; and the second, dealing with poets by profession, about 164 notices: in all, about 286 notices of poets who lived before A.H. 625 (A.D. 1228). The credit of making known to European scholars the contents of this valuable compilation belongs primarily to Nathaniel Bland, who, under the title of The Afost Ancient Persian Biography of Poets^ described at con- siderable length the manuscript which belonged successively to
452 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
J. B. Elliott (A.D. 1825) and Lord Crawford (1866-1901), and which has lately (August, 1901) been bought by Mrs. Rylands for the John Rylands Library at Manchester, in vol. ix (pp. 112 et seqq.} of the Royal Asiatic Society's "Journal; and the other known manuscript (now at Berlin) was described by Dr. Sprenger at pp. I— 6 of his Catalogue of the . . . Manuscripts of the Library of the King of Oudh (Calcutta, 1854).* Since then Dr. Eth£, of Aberystwyth, has made great use of it in a series of admirable monographs on the earlier Persian poets 2 which he has published in various German periodicals ; and now I hope that the text will soon be available to all Persian scholars in the edition which I am about to publish. Here it will' only be possible to notice a few of the most notable poets of the earliest period. 3
(i) Handjiala of Bddghfs is the only Persian poet belonging to the Tahirid period (A.D. 820-872) mentioned by 'Awff, who cites only the two following couplets 4 : —
" Though rue-seed in the fire my sweetheart threw Lest hurt should from the Evil Eye accrue, I fear nor fire nor rue can aught avail That face like fire and beauty-spot like rue!"*
1 This MS. is also described by Pertscb on pp. 596-7 of the Berlin Catalogue of Persian MSS. (1888).
3 These are : Rudagi, der Sdmanidendichter (1873) ; Rudagi's Vorlttufcr und Zeitgenossen (1875) ; Firdusi (sic) als Lyriker (1872) ; Die Lieder des Kisai (1874), &c.
3 For reasons already given (p. 13, n. 3 supra), I exclude the verses alleged by 'Awfi to have been composed by a certain 'Abbas of Merv, in A.D. 809, in honour of the Caliph al-Ma'mun, since I agree with A. de Biberstein Kazimirski in regarding them as spurious.
4 The other two couplets ascribed to him in the Haft Iqlim (see Ethe, Rudagi's Vorltiufer, p. 40) are really by a different poet. See p. 355 supra.
5 The seed of the wild rue (sipand) is burned as a fumigation against the Evil Eye or " Eye of Perfection " ('Aynu'l Kamdl), so called because whatever is perfect of its kind is especially subject to its malevolent influence. The poet compares his sweetheart's bright face and dark beauty-spot to the fire and the rue-seed, and implies that they are too perfect to be so easily protected against the Evil Eye.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 453
(2) Flruz al-Mashriqi) whom 4Awf{ next mentions, lived in the time of 4Amr b. Layth the Saffirid (A.D. 878-900). Of his verses likewise only two couplets are handed down : —
"A bird the Arrow is — strange bird of doom/ Souls are its prey, the quarry of its quest: It borrows for its use the eagle's plume, Thereby to claim the eaglet as its guest."
(3) Abu Salik of Gurgan concludes the short list of Tahind and Samanid poets. Two separate fragments of his verse, each consisting of two couplets, are cited by 4Awff.
The remaining twenty-eight poets mentioned in this chapter all belong to the Samanid period, but some of them were under the patronage of the House of Buwayh (e.g., Mansur b. 'AH al-Mantiq{ ar-Raz{ and Abu Bakr Muhammad b. 'AH Khusrawl of Sarakhs, both of whom were patronised by that generous minister the Sdhib Isma'fl b. 'Abbdd), others (e.g.) the last-mentioned poet, and Abu'l-Qdsim Ziyad b. Muhammad Qumrf of Gurgdn) sung the praises of the Ziyarids of Tabaristan, others (e.g., Daqfqf and Manjik) of the Chaghanf or Farfghuni rulers, and others of the early Kings of Ghazna ; while some half-dozen seem to have had no special patron. Most of them are mentioned, and their extant verses cited, by Eth£ r in his already cited article (published in Professor Fleischer's Festschrift, entitled Mor- genlBndische Forschungeny Leipzig, 1875, pp. 35-68), and only a few of the most notable need detain us here. Three or four are described as Dhufl-Lisanayn (" Masters of the two lan- guages"), or bilingual poets, composing verses both in Arabic and Persian : of these are Shaykh Abu'l-Hasan Shahfd of Balkh, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. 'AH Khusrawf of Sarakhs, and Abu 'Abdi'llah Muhammad b. 'Abdu'lldh Junaydf, who is stated by 'Awfl to be mentioned in the
1 Of the thirty-one poets included by 'Awfi in this chapter, Ethe mentions about twenty, and adds two or three more.
454 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
though I have hitherto been unable to find any notice of him in that work.
(4) Shahld of Balkh. Of this poet seven pieces of Persian verse, comprising fifteen couplets, and three couplets of Arabic are recorded by 'Awfi, as well as some verses composed on his death by Rudagf, who says that though, according to the reckoning of the eyes, one man has passed away, in the estimate of wisdom it is as though more than a thousand had died. The following translations are given as specimens of his work : —
" The cloud doth weep as weeps the Lover, while Like the Beloved doth the Garden smile ; Afar the thunder, like myself, doth groan, When -with the dawn I raise my piteous moan."
" Had sorrow smoke like fire, I do protest The world would e'er remain in darkness dresst ; Search the world through and through : thou wilt not find One man of wit who's not by grief oppresst."
Some of his Arabic verses are said to be given in an anthology (otherwise unknown) entitled Hamdsatu 'dk-Dhurafd, compiled by Abu Muhammad 'Abdu'1-Kafi-i-Zawzani.
(5) Abu. Shu'ayb Salih b. Muhammad of Herat is chiefly known as the author of five couplets in praise of a pretty Christian child, of which the first three are to the following effect : —
"Face and figure meet for Heaven, holding doctrines doomed to hell, Chain-like ringlets, cheek like tulips, eyes that shame the sweet
gazelle, Mouth as though some Chinese painter with his brush had drawn
a line
Of vermilion on a ground of musk to form those lips of thine. 'Midst the swarthy ^Ethiopians could his grace divided be, Each would have wherewith to stir the Turkish beauties' jealousy"
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 455
(6) Abb 'Abdfllah Muhammad b. Musa al-Faralawl T was a contemporary of the above-mentioned Shahid, with whom he is " bracketed " by the later and greater Rudagf, of whom we shall speak directly, in a verse cited by 'Awff. The following fragment alone survives of his poems : —
" What greater claim on me than him to greet, To whom I ne'er can render service meet f For service poorly rendered none I need Save his great charity to intercede."
(7) Abu « Abdullah Ja'far b. Muhammad ar-Rawdhakl,* commonly called Rudakl or Rudagf is generally reckoned the first really great poet of Muhammadan Persia ; and Bal'amf, the Prime Minister of Isma'il b. Ahmad the Samanid (A.D. 892-907), and father of the translator into Persian of TabarPs Great Chronicle,3 even went so far as to declare that he was " peerless amongst the Arabs and the Persians." 4 Amongst contemporary poets also he appears to have enjoyed a high reputation. Shahfd of Balkh says in a verse cited by 4Awf{ that " l Bravo ! ' and c Well done ! ' are praise to other poets, but it would be satire to say c Bravo ! ' and ' Well done ! ' to Rudagf." By Ma'ruff of Balkh he is called " the King of poets" (Sultan-i-shd(-'irdn}y and from the words ascribed to him, " Incline to no one in the world but to the Fatimid," it would appear as though he was in sympathy with the Isma'Ilfs, which
1 Ethe, using only the Berlin Codex of 'Avvfi, reads Fardlddi, but the better Elliott Codex, as well as the Majma'u'l-Fusahd, has clearly d, not w, and this reading is confirmed by the verse of Kudagi cited by 'Awfi in which the name rhymes with rdwi.
* In a passage from an Arabic work entitled Ghydtu'l-Wasd'il ila Ma'rifati'l-awd'il, which I have cited at pp. 125-6 of my Handlist of the Muhamtnadan MSS. in the Library of the University of Cambridge t Rudagi's pedigree is carried three generations further back (b. Muhammad b. Hakim b. 'Abdu'r-Rahmdn b. Adam), and he is described as "the first to produce fine poetry in Persian " (see p. 356 supra).
3 A French translation of the younger Bal'ami's version by Zotenbger was published in Paris in 1867-1874 in four volumes.
« Handlist, p. 126, 11. 3-4.
456 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
agrees very well with the Isma'ili proclivities ascribed to his master and patron, the Samanid Prince Nasr II b. Ahmad (A.D. 913-942), by the Nidhamu'1-Mulk in his Siydsat-nama (ed. Schefer, pp. 188-193). Daqlqf also, the predecessor of Firdaws{, says that for him to praise one who had been the object of Rudagi's panegyrics would be "to bring dates to Hajar " (or, as we say in English, " to bring coals to Newcastle "). Even 'Unsurf, the Poet Laureate of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, admits that in the ghazal, or ode, he cannot rival Rudagf.
Riidagi was born in a village near Samarqand, and is stated by <Awff (though Dr. Eth.e" doubts the truth of this statement) to have been blind from his birth. He was not only a graceful poet but a sweet singer, and withal skilful in the use of the harp and lute ; and he stood in high favour with his royal patron Nasr II. Indeed the most celebrated of his achieve- ments (mentioned in almost every biography of Persian poets) is connected with an improvisation of which the circumstances have been already mentioned in the first chapter of this book (pp. 14-16 supra\ and which was, apparently, sung by him before the King to the accompaniment of the harp.1 Towards the end of his life2 (possibly for reasons connected with his religious beliefs, to which allusion has already been made) he fell from favour and was overtaken by poverty, but in the heyday of his popularity he is said by *Awf{ to have possessed two hundred slaves, while a hundred camels 3 were required to carry his baggage. His verses", according to the same authority, filled a hundred volumes ; while Jami in his Bah&rht&n states,
1 The oldest, fullest and most authentic version of this story occurs in the Chahdr Maqdla of Nidhami-i-'Arudi of Samarqand. See my trans- lation of that work (Luzac, 1899), PP- 5I-56 > a°d also my article on the Sources of Dawlatshdh in the J. R. A. S. for January, 1899, pp. 61-69.
* He died, according to as-Sam'ani (cited by al-Manini in his com- mentary on the Ta'rikhu'l-'Utbi, Cairo ed. of A.H. 1286, vol. i, p. 52) in A.H. 329 = A.D. 940-1.
3 Jami exaggerates this number to four hundred.
DOWN TO A.D. looo 4$;
on the alleged authority of the Kitab-i-YamM (Le. UtbPs history of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna), that they amounted to one million and three hundred couplets.1 Of these only a very small proportion have come down to our time, though many more than was formerly supposed. Thus Dr. Horn has pointed out in his excellent edition of AsadPs Lug ha tu I- Furs (pp. 1 8-2 1 ) that Riidagi is cited in that work more often than any other old poet, and he gives some sixteen couplets from his lost mathnawi of Kalilaand Dimna alone, and there are a good many inedited anthologies and similar works in the British Museum and other large libraries of Europe which would yield a very considerable quantity of his work. Dr. Eth£ in his admirable monograph on Rudagi 2 has collected together from such sources fifty-two fragments of greater or less length, amounting in all to 242 couplets, and from the additional sources of information rendered available within the last thirty years, there is no doubt that this number could now be largely increased. As Dr. Eth6 has appended German verse-translations to all the fragments of Rudagf which he has collected in the above-mentioned monograph, it appears unnecessary to give here any further specimens of his poetry for the European reader, save the two following fragments translated by my dear old teacher, Professor Cowell (= Eth£, Nos. 20 and 41) : —
"Bring me yon wine which thou might 'st call a melted ruby in its cup, Or like a scimetar unsheathed, in the sun's noon-tide light held up. 'Tis the rose-water, thou might st say, yea thence distilled for purity ; Its sweetness falls as sleep's own balm steals o'er the vigil-wearied eye.
1 The poet Rashidi of Samarqand in one of his poems says that he counted Rudagi's verses, and found that they amounted to thirteen times 100,000 (i.e., one million and three hundred thousand), which is probably what Jami was thinking of.
* Nachrichten von der Kdnigl. Gesellschaft der Wissenchaflen u. dcr G. A. Universitat zu GStthigen, No. 25, November 12, 1873, pp. 663-742.
458 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Thou might est call the cup the cloud, the wine the raindrop
from it cast, Or say the joy that fills the heart whose prayer long looked-for
comes at last. Were there no wine all hearts would be a desert waste, forlorn
and black, But were our last life-breath extinct, the sight of wine would
bring it back.
O if an eagle would but swoop, and bear the wine up to the sky, Far out of reach of all the base, who would not shout ' Well
done !' as I?"
" When I am dead, my last breath sighed away, And spent my latest wish with no return, Come by my bed and whisper o'er my clay, ' I killed thee, and 'tis I who now must mourn. ' "
(8) Shaykh Abul-^Abbas, Fadl b. lAbbas^ a contemporary of Rudagf, mourned the patron of the latter, Nasr II, and at the same time hailed his successor in the following lines : —
"From us ts snatched a King of noble race, Another, brave and high-born, takes his place. For him who's gone Time sorrows with one voice, For him now crowned the World's heart doth rejoice. Look with the eye of Wisdom, now, and say, ( God giveth, even when He takes away ! ' The Lamp which shines He may extinguish, yet Again another in its place doth set. Unlucky Saturn heavy blows may deal, Yet Jupiter transmutes the woe to weal"
(9) Shaykh Abu Zurfra al-Mu^ammarl (or Mi'mari, or Mi'mdrl) of Gurgan, on being bidden by a noble of Khurasan to compose verse like RiidagPs, replied thus : —
" Though I have not Riidagi's fortune, let that not amaze Nor cause you to think me behind him in sonnets and lays. He amassed, at the price of his eyesight, great treasure, we're told, But ne'er would I barter my eyesight for silver or gold I Of what princes gave him as gifts give one thousandth to me, And a thousand times sweeter than his shall my melody be."
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 459
From the following fragment it would appear that he considered his military talents to be equal to his literary skill :—
" Where there is giving afoot, for silver gold do I fling, And where there is speaking, hard steel to the softness of wax
I bring:
Where there are winds a-whirling, there like the wind I pass, Now with the lute and the goblet, now with the mailed cuirass!"
Passing over Abu hhaq Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Bukhdrl al-Juybari, of whose life and date 'Awff says nothing save that he was by profession a goldsmith, but of whose verse he cites five couplets, we come to another really important poet, Firdawsi's predecessor —
(10) Abu Mansur Muhammad b. Ahmad ad-Daqlqi of Tus. In spite of the essentially and almost aggressively Muhammadan name of this poet, it has been contended by Ethe^1 Noldeke,2 and, less decidedly, by Horn,3 that he was a Zoroastrian, this opinion being based on the following verses with which one of his poems concludes 4 : —
" Of all that's good or evil in the world
Four things suffice to meet Daqiqfs need: The ruby-coloured lip, the harp's lament, The blood-red wine, and Zoroaster's creed."
Though these verses, notwithstanding what is said by Eth6 (who only had at his disposal the Berlin manuscript of cAwfi, which has a lacuna at this point), are not given by 'Awfi, I am not disposed to doubt their genuineness, but I think too much has been based upon them, and that Daqiqfs admiration for " Zoroaster's creed " was probably confined to one single point
1 Rudagi's Vorhlufer und Zcitgenossen, p. 59.
• Das Iranischc Nationalepos, p. 18 (Separatabdruck from the Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, Strassburg, 1896).
3 Gesch. d. Persische Litteratur, p. 81 (Leipzig, 1901).
4 Ethe, op. cit., p. 59.
460 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
— its sanction of wine-drinking ; which, as I have elsewhere remarked,1 is still a very prominent feature in the daily life of the Persian Zoroastrian.
Daqiqfs chief claim to fame is that he was first entrusted with the versification of the Persian Epic, but when he had completed about one thousand couplets of that portion which deals with the appearance of Zoroaster and the establishment of his religion, he was stabbed by a Turkish boy who was his favourite slave.2 Firdawsi, in consequence of a vision (which, probably enough, is a mere poetic figment) incorporated Daqfql's work in his own, but not without passing a somewhat severe and ungenerous criticism on its merits — a criticism which Professor Noldeke, who lias carefully compared this portion of the Shdhndma with Firdawsi's work, very properly condemns as unfounded. 3 That Daqfqf stood high in the esteem of his contemporaries is shown by the words with which As'ad the 'Amid presented Farrukhl to the Amir Abu'l- Mudlhaffar, " O Sire, I bring thee a poet the like of whom the Eye of Time hath not seen since Daqiqf's face was veiled in death; "4 as well as by al-'Utbi's brief remarks 5 on the most eminent poets of the reign of Nuh II b. Mansur the Sdmdnid (A.D. 976-997 ).
Of Daqiqfs lyric verse, 'Awff gives ten fragments com- prising in all twenty-seven couplets, and Eth6 gives three additional fragments (Nos. I, 4, and 6), comprising thirteen
1 A Year amongst the Persians, pp. 375-6.
a See Turner Macau's edition of the Shdhndma, at the beginning of vol. iii (p. 1065, 1. n), where Daqiqi is made to say to Firdawsi in the vision : " I composed a thousand couplets about Gushtasp and Arjasp, when my life came to an end." The portion of the poem ascribed to Daqiqi extends from p. 1065 to p. 1103. In Viillers's edition this is equivalent to vol. iii, pp. 1495-1553 ; or 1001 couplets minus the prologue of 13 couplets = 988 couplets.
3 Op. cit., p. 20. The criticism in question occurs in Macau's ed. on p. 1104.
4 See the tiragc-a-part of my translation of the Chahdr Maqdla, p. 65.
5 Ta'rikhu'l-'Utbi, ed. Cairo, A.H. 1286, vol. ii, p. 22.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 461
couplets, which are not to be found in 'Awfi. The following verses form part of a qasida in praise of the Amir Abu Sa'id Muhammad [b.] Mudhaffar [b.] Muhtaj-i-Chighanl : —
" Thy sword to guard the Empire hath God as sentry set, Bounty its chosen agent hath made that hand of thine: The Ear of Fate from Heaven is strained for thy command, And gold to reach thy hand-hold emergdh from the mine"
In another qasida addressed to the Sdmanid ruler Mansur I (A.D. 961-976) he says : —
"O King recalling Ddrd's noble line, Who dost in Sdmdn's sky like Pole-star shine ! Should Satan see him when his -wrath is stirred, Fearing his sieord, he would accept God's Word. Ndhid and Hurmuz I guide his soldier's feet, While Mars and Saturn are his vanguard fleet."
In another qasida addressed to Nuh II (A.D. 976-997), the successor of the king last mentioned, he says : —
" The circling Heaven lends an eager ear That what the King commands it swift may hear. For fear of him Saturn, most sordy tried, Scarce dares suwey the Sky's expanses wide."
•\
•^-~ V
The following lines are from one of his love-poems : —
"O would that in the world 'twere endless day, That from those lips 7 ne'er need 'bide away ! But for those scorpion curls ' my Love doth wear No smart like scorpion-sting my heart need bear.
1 Ndhid (the ancient Andhita) is the planet Venus, and Hurmuz (Almra- Mazda) is Jupiter, these being the two fortunate planets, as Saturn and Mars are the unlucky ones.
3 The locks (zulf) of the Beloved, by reason of their shape, their blackness, and their power to wound, are often compared to a scorpion.
462 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
But for the stars * which 'neath those lips do play, I need not count night's stars till dawn of day.3 Were she not formed of all that is most fair Some thought beyond her love my soul might share. If I must pass my life without my Friend, O God, I -would my life were at an end!"
In another verse he says : —
" Long tarrying, I'm lightly held : away ! Even an honoured guest too long may stay: Waters which in the well too long repose Lose all their flavour, and their sweetness goes."
The following verse is descriptive of wine : —
" Wrung from the Grape which shines as shines the Light, Yet Fire consuming is its soul and sprite : Compounded from a Star whose setting-place Is in the Mouth, yet rises in the Face."
This is descriptive of a bowl of iced water : —
" Water and ice in crystal bowl combine : Behold these three, which like a bright lamp shine. Two deliquescent, one hard-frozen see, Yet all alike of hue and bright of blee."
Of the remaining poets of this earliest epoch cited by <Awf{ (and, for the most part, by Eth£ also) is Manjlk, who was patronised by the Chighdnf amlrst and whose verses seem often to have contained rare, archaic, and dialectal expressions, since in the following century we find the poet Oatran of Tabriz asking Ndsir-i-Khusraw to explain and elucidate them. 3
1 This, I suppose, is a metaphor for the dimples which flash and flicker round the mouth of the Beloved.
3 " To count the stars," is, both with the Persian poets and their Turkish imitators, a common expression for passing sleepless nights.
3 Safar-ncima (ed. Schefer, Paris, 1881), p. 6 of the text = pp. 18-19 °f the French translation.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 463
Then comes Abu 1- Hasan 'All b. Muhammad al-Ghazzali al- Lukarl^ who has some very pretty verses describing a beautiful Kurdish boy, and other lines in praise of Niih II b. Mansur the Samanid Prince (A.D. 976-997), and of the wazlr Abu'l- Hasan 'Ubaydu'llah b. Ahmad al-'Utbf. Next comes Ma'rufl of Ballch, who has the following lines in praise of the Samanid 'Abdu'l-Maiik I (A.D. 954-961) :—
"0 Colocynth and Aloes to thy foes, But to thy friends like sugar, honey-sweet t The use of foresight no one better knows, Nor how to strike the first when blows are meet."
Next follows Mansur b. '•All al-Mantiqi of Ray, one of the panegyrists of the great Sdhib Ismail b. 'Abbad, the wazlr of the House of Day lam (see p. 453 supra), to whom he alludes in the following lines : —
" Methinks the Moon of Heav'n is stricken sore, And nightly grievcth as it wasteth more. What late appeared a great, round, silver shield Now like a mall-bat ' enters heaven's field. The Sahib's horse, you'd think, had galloped by, And cast one golden horse-shoe in the sky."
The following verse, apart from the pretty hyperbole which it contains, has a certain adventitious interest : —
"One hair I stole from out thy raven locks When thou, 0 sweetheart, didst thy tresses comb, With anxious toil / bore it to my house, As bears the ant the wheat-grain to its home. My father when he saw me cried amain, ' Which is my son, I pray thee, of these twain f " •
According to <AwfPs narrative, when BadPuz-Zaman of
1 The crescent moon is here compared to the curved head of a polo-bat. • Meaning that his son, Mansur, was so wasted with love that he could, scarce be distinguished from a hair.
464 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Hamada'n, Hariri's great rival in the writing of Maqamat, came to visit the Sahib at the age of twelve, the Sahib, wishing to test his skill, bade him translate these lines into Arabic verse. The youthful scholar asked what rhyme and metre he should employ, and was told to make the rhyme in ta and to use the metre called Sari1 ("the Swift," in the variety here used : — uu — | — uu — | — u — | ), whereupon he at once extemporised a very close translation in Arabic, to the following effect : —
" / stole from his tresses a hair
When he combed them with care in the morn ;
Then, labouring, bore it away
As the ant staggers off with the corn.
Quoth my father, ' Since cither would go
Through the eye of a needle, I trow,
Inform me, I pray thee, which one
Of the twain is my son 1 ' "
Such translations of Arabic into Persian verse, and vice versa, seem to have been a very favourite exercise with scholars and wits from this period onwards into Seljuq times, though unfortunately it is not always possible to compare the version and the original, one or other having been lost. Thus we find in two of al-Bunddrf's works, his abridged Arabic translation of the Shahndma of Firdawsf, and his History of the Seljiiq^ numerous verse-renderings in Arabic of Persian poems,1 which in the former instance can be compared with their originals, but in the latter, as a rule, not. And it is interesting to note that the translators -considered themselves under no obligation to preserve the form, metre, or rhyme of the original, but only
1 This Arabic version of the Shdhndma exists only in manuscript, and is rare, but there is a fine old copy in the Cambridge University Library, and others at Paris and Berlin (see pp. 43-4 of my Handlist of Muhammad an MSS.) The Seljuq History has been edited in the most scholarly way by Houtsma (Brill, Leyden, 1889). Arabic verse-translations of Persian originals occur on p. 85 (verses of Abu Mansur of Aba), p. 86 (verses of the Mu'ayyidu'1-Mulk), p. 105 (verses of Abu Tahir al-Khatuni), &c.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 465
the meaning, and this though they were practically bilingual (dhul-lisanayn\ and though the metrical system of the Arabs and Persians is substantially identical. On this ground alone I consider, contrary to the view of many eminent Orientalists, notably my deeply lamented friend, Mr. E. J. W. Gibb, whose great History of Ottoman Poetry has been already mentioned in several places, that he who seeks to render the poetry of the East into a Western tongue may most justly claim the same indulgence as these old masters of Arabic and Persian took when translating in verse from the one language into the other ; and indeed, having regard to the wide differences which separate our verse-forms and laws of prosody from those of the Muhammadan nations, we are doubly justified in demanding the right to take equal liberties with the forms, though not with the substance of our originals.
With Mantiqf we notice a more artificial style, and a greater fondness for rhetorical devices, than is the case with the early poets hitherto mentioned : in particular, a fondness for the figure known as " poetical aetiology " (husn-i-ta'/tl), as, for instance, when he ascribes the " pallor " or " sallowness " of the sun to its fear of trespassing on the realms of his patron in its passage across the sky, and that of the gold dln&r to its dread of his lavish and prodigal hands ; or the " trembling " (or twinkling) of the stars to their dread of his far-reaching sword. This characteristic is due, I think, not so much to personal idiosyncrasy as to the fact that the Buwayhid Court of 'Iraq was, owing to its greater proximity to, and closer connection with, the metropolis of Baghdad, more directly subject to the literary influences and tendencies of Arabic- speaking and Arabic-writing men of letters than the Samdnid Court of far Khurasan. For this very reason, perhaps, Khurasan is regarded (and justly so) as the cradle of the Persian Renaissance ; yet that it was considered far behind 'Iraq in literary culture clearly appears from the following verses (cited in the Yatlma, vol. iv, p. 3) of Abu Ahmad b.
31
466 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Abu Bakr al-Kdtib (the secretary), whose father was secretary to the Samanid Prince Isma'il b. Ahmad (A.D. 892-907) and wazlr to his son and successor Ahmad b. Isma'il (A.D. 907-913) :—
" Wondei not at a man of 'Iraq in whom fhou seest an ocean of
learning and a treasure of culture ;
Wonder ratf,er at one whose home is in the lands of ignorance if he be able to distinguish head from tail I "
These lines were, of course, written before that brilliant epoch described in another passage of the Tathna (vol. iv, pp. 33-4 : see pp. 365-6 supra], but it shows that the flow of Muhammadan culture was, as we should expect, centrifugal, from Baghdad towards the periphery of the Lands of Isldm.
The next poet mentioned by * Awff, Abu Bakr Muhammaa b. *Ali al-Khusrawl as-Sarakhslt was attached neither to the Samdnid nor to the Buwayhid Court, but to that eminent prince of the Ziydrid dynasty of Tabaristan, Amfr Shamsu'l- Ma'ali Qdbus b. Washmgfr (A.D. 976-1012), of whose own literary achievements we shall shortly have to speak. He too was a bilingual poet, and apparently wandered from court to court, praising now his proper patron Qabus, now the Sdhib, and again the grandson of Simjur, Abu'l Hasan Muhammad. Another poet who sang the praises of Qabus was Abu'l-^aslm Ziyad b. Muhammad al-Qumri of Gurgan, whose few surviving verses shew taste and ingenuity, and something also of that artificiality which we have already remarked in Mantiqf. Abu Tahir al-Khusrawani was another Samanid poet, who has some bitter verses against " four sorts of men from whom not one atom of good accrued " to him, viz., physicians, devotees, astrologers, and charm-mongers. Somewhat better known is Abu Shukur of Balkh, who, in A.H. 336 (= A.D. 947-8) completed a work (now lost) called the Afarln-nama^ and who is also the author of the following lines : —
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 467
* / ventured to glance from afar at thy face, and Behold ! 'Twos sufficient a wound to inflict on thy countenance sweet; By thy glance in return was my heart smitten sore, for of old 'Tis the Law of Atonement that 'wounding for wounding is meet.' " *
This verse was put into Arabic by the bilingual poet, Abu'l- Fath of Bust, while another Persian verse by the poet Abu ^Abdt'llah Muhammad b. Salih al-Walwalajl was similarly Arabicised by Abu'l-Qasim, the son of the wazlr Abu'l- 4Abbas. Abu Muhammad al-Bad? of Balkh composed verses in praise of the Chighanf Amfr Abu Yahya Tahir b. Fadl of the kind known as mulamma1 or " patch-work," /.*., half Persian, half Arabic. Abul-Mudhaffar Nasr al-Istighnd'i of Nfshapiir is known to us now only by the two following couplets : —
" Like to the Moon would she be, were it not for her raven locks; Like unto Venus, save for her beauty-spot, fragrant as musk : Her cheeks to the Sun I would liken, save that, unlike the Sun, She needs not to fear an eclipse, she needs not to shrink from the dusk."
Abu lAbd?llah Muhammad al-Junaydl was another of the Sahib's bilingual poets. Abu Mamur 'Umdra of Merv flourished under the last king of the House of Sdman and the first of the House of Ghazna, and excelled in brief and picturesque descrip- tions of the spring season, wine, and the like. His is the following admonition to those who seek worldly success : —
" Though the world should hold thee in honour, let that not fill thee
with pride: —
Many the world hath honoured and soon hath cast aside. For the world is a venomous serpent : its seeker a charmer of
snakes : And one day on the serpent-charmer the serpent its vengeance
takes."
• Qur'an, v, 49.
468 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Seven more poets whose patrons are unknown conclude 'Awfi's list of these early pre-Ghaznawi singers, of whom in all thirty-one are noticed. These seven are : fldql ; Abul- Mathal of Bukhard ; Abul-Muayyad of Balkh ; his namesake of Bukhara, also called Rawnaql ; Ma'nawl of Bukhara; Khabbdzi of Nishdpur, and Siplhri of Transoxiana.
Leaving these poets by profession, we turn now to two royal poets of this period.
The first of these was the Samdnid King Mansur II b. Nuh (A.D. 997-9), whom 'Awfi calls the last of his line, though his brother, 'Abdu'l-Malik is generally reckoned to have succeeded him. " Though he was young," says *Awff, "yet the dynasty had grown old, and no order (sdmdn} was left in the affairs of the House of Saman, while the life of the Royal House had sunk to a mere spark. He lived at the beginning of the reign of Sultan Mahmud Yamlnud-Dawla. Many times did he fall a captive into the hands of his enemies, and again recovered his freedom : greatly did he strive to recover his father's kingdom, but human effort avails naught
o * o
against the Decree of Heaven and the Fate preordained by God, as saith God Almighty, " None can avert His Decree and none can postpone His command ; God doth what He pleaseth and ordereth as He will" Of him alone amongst the Kings of the House of Saman is any verse recorded. His verses are both spontaneous and kingly. Whilst he sat on the throne of sovereignty in Bukhdrd, enemies rose up against him on all sides, and all his nobles were disaffected, so that night and day he was on horseback, clad in a Zandanljl x coat, while most of his life was passed in flight and fight. One day some of his companions said to him, " O King, why dost thou not get thyself fine clothes, or amuse thyself with those distractions which are one of the perquisites of royalty ? " Thereupon he
1 Zandaniji or Zand-ptchi (see Vullers's Lexicon, vol. iii, p. 151) is a loose white garment made of very thick and strong material, probably to afford some protection against sword-cuts
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 469
composed this fragment, in the sentiments of which the signs of manly courage are apparent and evident : —
" They ask me why fine robes J do not wear, Nor covet stately lent with carpets rare. 'Midst clash of arms, what boots the minstrel's power t 'Midst rush of steeds, what place for rose-girt bower f Nor wine nor sweet-lipped Sdqi aught avail Where blood is spattered o'er the coats of mail. Arms, horse for me banquet and bower enow, Tulip and lily mine the dart and bow."
The following quatrain reproaching Heaven for its unkindness is also ascribed to him : —
" O blue to look on, not in essence blue, A Fire art than, though like a Smoke to view. E'en from thy birth thine ears were deaf to prayer, Nor wrath nor protest aught avail with you."
More important as a patron of letters, if not as a poet, was the Ziyarid prince of Tabaristan, Qabiis b. Washmgfr, entitled SliarnsiiI-Ma'all ("the Sun of the Heights" reigned A.D. 976-1012). To him al-Binin{ dedicated his "Chrono- logy of Ancient Nations " (al-Atharul-bdqiya mina l-^uruni1 1~ khullya^ edited and translated into English by Dr. Sachau), in the preface of which work he thus speaks of him (Sachau's translation, p. 2) : —
" How wonderfully hath He whose Name is to be exalted and extolled combined with the glory of his noble extraction1 the graces of his generous character, with his valiant soul all laudable qualities, such as piety and righteousness, carefulness in defending and observing the rites of religion, justice and equity, humility and beneficence, firmness and determination, liberality and gentleness, the talent for ruling and governing, for managing and deciding, and other qualities which no fancy could comprehend and no mortal enumerate !"
1 This pedigree, given in full by al-Biruni (p. 47 of Sachau's trans- lation), traces his lineage to the Sasanian King Qubadh, the father of Anushirwan.
470 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Ath-Thacdlibf, in the tenth and last chapter of the third volume of his Tatlma^ is equally enthusiastic in " crowning his book with some of the shining fruits of his eloquence, which is the least of his many virtues and characteristics."1 The great Avicenna (Abu CAH ibn Sfna) was another of the eminent men of learning whom Qabiis protected and aided, as is fully narrated in the Chahar Maqala, or " Four Discourses " (pp. 121-4 of my translation), by Nidhaml of Samarqand, who calls Qabus " a great and accomplished man, and a friend to men of learning." His unhappy and violent end is well known,2 and ampler details of his life are to be found in Ibn Isfandiyar's History of Tabaristan, of which I am now pre- paring an abridged translation. He composed verses both in Arabic and Persian. Amongst the former is the following : —
"Say to him who fain would taunt us with vicissitudes of Fate, ' Warreth Fate or fightcth Fortune save against the high and great f Seest thou not the putrid corpse which Ocean to its surface flings, While within its deep abysses lie the pearls desired of Kings ?' Though the hands of Fate attack us, though her buffets us disarm, Though her long-continued malice bring upon us hurt and harm, In the sky are constellations none can count, yet of them all On the Sun and Moon alone the dark Eclipse's shadows fall !"
And again : —
"My love is enkindled in thinking of thee, And passionate thrills through my being do dart: No limb of my body but speaks of thy love, Each limb, thou would' st think, was created a heart!"
Amongst his Persian verses 'Awff records the following : —
1 Other passages of this encomium will be found on pp. 507-8 of the second volume of de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan.
a He was murdered, with his son's connivance, in the Castle of Janashk in Gurgan, where he had been imprisoned. See my edition of Dawlatshdh, pp. 48-9, and de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan, vol. ii, p. 509.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 471
" The things of this world from end to end are the goal of desire
and greed, And I set before this heart oj mine the things which I most do
need, But a score of things I have chosen out of the world's unnumbered
throng, That in quest of these 1 my soul may please and speed my life
along. Verse, and song, and minstrelsy, and wine full-flavoured and
sweet, Backgiiininon, and chess, and lite hunting-ground, and the falcon
and cheetah fleet ;
Field, and ball, and audience-hall, and battle, and banquet rare, Horse, and arms, and a generous hand, and praise of my Lord
and prayer."
And again : —
"Six things there be which have their home in the midst of thy
raven hair ;
Twist and tangle, curl and knot, ringlet and love-lock fair ; Six things there be, as you may see which in my heart do reign ; Grief and desire and sorrow dire : longing and passion and
pain t "
The following quatrain is also his : —
" Mirth's King the Rose is, Wine Joy's Herald eke ; Hence from these two do I my pleasure seek : Would'st thou, O Moon, inquire the cause of this f Wine's taste thy lips recalls, the Rose thy cheek I ''
Amongst other royal and noble poets of this early period
'Awff mentions Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (whose Court will be described at the beginning of the next volume),
0tSobie°py^ird and his son Am{r Abli Muhammad b. Yamfnu'd- Dawla; Abu'l-Mudhaffar Tahir b. al-Fadl b.
Muhammad Muhtaj as-Saghan{ (i.e., of Chaghan) ; Amir Kayka'us the Ziyarid, son of the talented and un- fortunate Qabus whom we have j ust been discussing, a"d others who need not detain us, since we have examined a sufficient amount of the poetry of this
period to be able to characterise it in general terms. The
472 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
metrical system which underlies it is, as we have already
observed, identical with that of the Arabs ; though certain
metres (e.g-, Kamil, Baslt, and Tawll} which are
Arabic and Per- . , . ." i • r» •
sian metrical common m Arabic are but rarely used in Persian,
systems. .
while some new metres were introduced in the latter language which were not used in the former. Dr. Forbes at pp. 132-3 of his Persian Grammar (4th ed. London, 1869), cites the opinion of Herr Geitlin, a German writer on the Persian language, who remarks that " the Persians and Arabs, like the Greeks and Romans, rejoice in a great variety of metres, but the Asiatic metres differ mainly in this, that the long syllables far exceed the short, which is quite in conformity with the character of the Oriental people, who are distinguished by a certain degree of gravity and sobriety in their conversation and gestures, com- bined with dignity and stateliness in all their movements ; " and, d propos of this, remarks, in speaking of the five purely Arabian metres comprised in the " First Circle," that in them " the short syllables are more nearly on a par with the long ; whereby we are to infer, according to Herr Geitlin's theory, that the roving Arabs are less grave and sober in their con- versation and gestures than their neighbours of Persia."
As regards verse-forms, it is the qasiday or elegy, alone which occupies a prominent place in both languages, and
which (chiefly, as it would appear, from the mVoTfeav°or™ed influence of the great Arab poet al-Mutanabbi, bif, early umesf A.D. 905-965) attained so great a development
in Persia under the Ghaznawi and succeeding dynasties, as will appear in a subsequent chapter. But at the period of which we are now speaking such long and elaborate monorhymes appear to have enjoyed little favour in Persia ; and even the ghazal, or ode, seems to have been less popular
in these early days than the qit'-a* or fragment.
The quatrain. _T^ ,
and the ruba^i^ du-bayti^ or quatrain. 1 his last, indeed, was almost certainly the earliest product of the
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 473
Persian poetical genius. Allusion has already been made to one of the stock anecdotes given by the biographers as to the first occasion on which Persian verse was composed in Muhammadan times ; the anecdote, namely, which ascribes a single misrd1 to the chance utterance of a gleeful child. In Dawlatshah's Memoirs (pp. 30-31 of my edition) this child is said to have been the son of Amfr Ya'qub b. Layth the SaffaYid ; but lately I have come across a much older version of the story in the British Museum manuscript Or. 2814 of a very rare work on Persian Prosody and Rhetoric entitled al-Mifjam ft ma'dblri a^arfl-^Ajam^ composed about A.H. 617 (=A.D. 1220—1221) by Shams-i-Qays. In this version (ff. 49b~5ob of the above-mentioned manuscript) the verse (" ghalatdn ghalatdn haml rawad td bun-i-kii"} and the anecdote are nearly the same, but the child is unnamed and not represented as of royal patronage, while it is not the Amir Ya'qub but the poet RudagI "or some other of the ancient poets of Persia" who is the auditor and admirer. He, according to the author, after an examination of the hemistich in question, "evolved out of the akhrab and akhram varieties of the hazaj metre a measure which they call the * Quatrain measure,'1 and which is indeed a graceful measure and a pleasant and agreeable form of verse ; in consequence of which most persons of taste and most cultivated natures have a strong inclination and leaning towards it." The quatrain, then, may safely be regarded as the most ancient essentially Persian verse-form, while next to this comes the
TheMathnawf. '. „ ,. , •
mathnawly or poem in "doublets, which is gene- rally narrative, and where the rhyme changes in each couplet. The portion of the Shdhndma composed by Daqfqf is probably the oldest Persian mathnawi poem of which any considerable portion has been preserved to us, though fragments of Rudagf's
1 See Blochmann's Prosody of the Persians, p. 68, where the twenty- four rubd'i metres, of which half are derived from each of these two varieties of the hazaj metre, are given in full.
474 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Kalila and Dlmna and other old mathnawts have been discovered by Dr. Paul Horn of Strassburg amongst the citations adduced by AsadI in his lexicon in proof of the meanings of rare and archaic words.
Coming now to the monorhymes, that is the qasida, its "fragment" (y //'#), and the ghazal, we notice a far greater simplicity in this than in the next period. The qasldas of 'Unsurf, FarrukM, Asadf, Manuchihrf, and other Ghaznawi poets are often nearly as artificial, and nearly as full of far- fetched conceits, as those of the Seljuq and other later periods ; but the earlier fragments which we have just been examining are, as a rule, simple, natural, spontaneous and often original. The same applies to the ghazaly so far as this had yet come into existence, though here the contrast is less marked, because the ghazal never assumed so purely artificial and rhetorical a form as did the qasida.
Although we have not space to consider at any great length
the Arabic poetry produced in Persia at this transition period,
something must needs be said as to its general
AP™c!ducPed1[7 characteristics and peculiarities. We have already
Perperi£d.thls s^11 tnat> as regards language and idiom, it closely
approached, if it did not actually reach, the level of
the poetry produced in those countries where Arabic was the
spoken language, but notwithstanding this it presents several
peculiarities, some of which will now be enumerated. These
peculiarities are naturally more conspicuous in the remoter and
more purely Persian Courts of the Samanid and other Eastern
dynasties than in the environment of the Buwayhid Princes
and Amfrs (notably the Sahib Isma'fl b. 'Abbad), who were in
closer touch with the metropolis of Baghdad, and we shall
therefore confine ourselves almost entirely to a consideration
of the form, as depicted in the fourth and last volume of ath-
Tha'alibi's Tatlma.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 475
In the first place, then, we often find presupposed a know- Knowledge of kdge °f tne Persian language which a non-Persian *3££S5f could not be expected to possess. Thus Abu v^pr^uced 'AH as-Sajf praises the city of Merv in the
in Persia. foiiowjng iines (ratlmay \\\ 16) :—
"Earth which in fragrance ambergris excels, A country fair, where cool, sweet waters flow : And when the traveller seeks its bounds to quit Its very name commands him not to go I "
The last line alludes to the fact that the letters M. R. W. which spells the name of the town in question can also be read as ma-raw, which in Persian signifies " do not go ! " To an Arab, of course, unless he knew Persian, the point of the verse would be entirely lost.1 Similar verses, of which the point lies in a " popular etymology," were composed about other towns, like Bukhara (Tatlma iii, 8, 9), but in the epigram on Bukhara the sense is uncomplimentary, and the etymology Arabic, not Persian.
Secondly, we meet with numerous verses composed on the occasion of one of the great Persian festivals, Nawniz and
Mihragan (which correspond respectively with Persianl°festivais the Spring and Autumn equinoxes), whereof the
last is also called the " Day of Ram " ; the twenty-first day of every Persian month, but most particularly the 2 ist day of the month of Mihr (/.*., Mihragan) being so named.2 Concerning this Rdm-ruz we find in the Tatlma (iii, 10) two pairs of verses, each containing a Persian expres- sion which (whether because the text is corrupt or the words obsolete) is, unfortunately, unintelligible to me. j, Numerous similar introductions of Persian words and sentences into the
1 Another similar word-play on dih-khudhd (the Persian word for a landowner or squire) will be found in a verse by Abu' 1-Qasim al-'Alawi al-Utrush cited at the top of p. 280 of vol. iii of the Yatinia.
* See Sachau's translation of al-Binini's Chronology of Ancient Nations, p. 209.
476 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
Arabic verses produced in Persia at this period might no
doubt be found by a more careful examination of the still
somewhat inaccessible sources of information on this subject.
Thirdly, we find occasional use made by Persian poets who
wrote in Arabic of verse-forms essentially Persian, notably the
mathnawl and the ghazal. A good instance of the
Employment of . / 11 j • A u- / •• \ • ir j
Persian verse- former ( called m Arabic muzdaivija) is to be found
forms, such as . . . . ' .
MoOMirfaad at p. 23 or vol. in of the Tatimay in the notice of Abu'1-Fadl as-Sukkari (?) al-Marwazi, who, we are told, " was very fond of translating Persian proverbs into Arabic. These proverbs are here strung together into a genuine mathnawl poem, such as I do not remember to have seen elsewhere in Arabic, and the original of many of the paraphrases can be easily recognised, e.g., " Al-laylu hub Id ; laysa yudrd md yalid" ("The night is pregnant: it is not known what it will bring forth) = " Shab dbistan-ast : fardd chi zayad?" And again: —
I aha 'l-md'u fawqa ghariqin tamd Fa-qdbu qandiin wa alf"" siva.
("When the water surges over the drowning man, then a fathom [lit. the cast of a javelin] and a thousand are alike") = " Chu db az sar dar guzasht, chi yak nlza, chi sad niza" As instances of Arabic ghazah or pseudo-ghazals, it is suffi- cient to refer to two short poems occupying the upper part of p. 23 of the third volume of the Yat'ima, of which the second especially is quite in the Persian style as regards sentiments ; and another on p. 113 of the same volume. Of the existence of true quatrains composed in Arabic I am less certain ; but two pieces of verse by Abu' l-4Ala as-Sarwi, describing the narcissus and the apple respectively (Tathnay vol. iii, p. 281), at least closely resemble this essentially Persian form of com- position, and more particularly accord with a fashion prevalent amongst the Persian poets of this period of describing in a quatrain or short "fragment " some particular fruit, flower, or Other natural object.
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 477
This large and interesting question as to the characteristics of the Arabic verse produced in Persia cannot be further dis- cussed here, but it well merits a systematic examination by some scholar who has a thoroughly competent knowledge, not only of both languages, but of both literatures. Unfortunately it is but very rarely that a scholar arises whose chief interest is in Persian literature, and who yet has a complete mastery of the Arabic language. The Arabist, as a rule, slights this branch of Arabic literature as exotic, even when he does not condemn it as post-classical ; while the student of Persian seldom realises till too late that for literary and historical purposes the point of view of the comparative philologist is entirely misleading, and that he need not so much to concern himself with Sanskrit and other Aryan languages as with Arabic.
Of the Persian prose literature of this period, which must have been of some extent, few specimens, unfortunately,
remain to us ; while even of what has been pre- ^iteraturT* served the greater part is translated from the
Arabic. Four works of importance, one historical, one medical, and two exegetical, all composed probably during the reign of the Sdmdnid King Mansiir I b. Nuh (A.D. 961- 976), have come down to us. Two of them are abridged translations of the great history and the great commentary of TabaH ; the third is the Pharmacology of Abu Mansiir Muwaffaq of HerAt ; the last is the now celebrated old Persian commentary on the Qur'dn, of which the second volume is preserved in a unique and ancient MS. in the Cambridge University Library. All these are written in a simple, straight- forward and archaic language, of which I have discussed the peculiarities at some length in the article in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1894 (pp. 417-524) where I first made known the existence of the Cambridge Codex of the old Persian Commentary, which bears a date equivalent to Feb-
478 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
ruary 12, A.D. 1231. The Pharmacology (Kitabul-Abnlya *-an Ifaqaiqi'l-Adwiya} is preserved in the unique Vienna Codex, a
still more ancient MS. (in fact the oldest extant extant Persian Persian MS.) dated Shawwal, A,H. 447 (= January,
A.D. 1056), which derives a special interest from the fact that it was transcribed by the poet 'All b. Ahmad of Tus, better known by his pen-name Asadf, the nephew of the great Firdawsf. This work has been beautifully printed in its entirety, with a preface, notes, and facsimiles of three leaves, by Dr. Seligmann (Vienna, 1859), while a German translation of it has been published with notes by Abdul-Chalig Achundow (i.e., 'Abdu '1-Khaliq, son of the Akhund or schoolmaster) of Baku. Bal'amf's Persian translation of Tabad's history exists in many fine old MSS., of which several are enumerated in the preface (pp. v-vii) to the first volume of M. Hermann Zoten- berg's Chronique de Abou-Djafar Mohammed ben Djarir ben Tezid Tabarij traduite sur la version per sane d'Abou 1AH Mohammed BePami ffaprh les manuscrits de Paris^ de Gotha, de Londres et de Canterbury (Paris, 4 vols., 1867-1874). Of the Persian translation of Tabad's Commentary, made about the same time as Bal'amf's translation of the same great scholar's History, there is a manuscript (ADD. 7601) dated A.H. 883 (A.D. 1478) in the British Museum.
There exists a rare Persian work known as the Marzuban- ndma, of which extracts have been published by the late
M. Charles Schefer in his Chrestomathie Persane ThenaamauWn" (Paris, 1885; vol. ii, pp. 1 94-2 1 1 of the Notes,
and pp. 172-199 of the texts). This is a trans- lation made by Sa'd of Warawfn towards the end of the twelfth century of our era from an original composed in the Mdzan- daranf dialect by the Ispahbad Marzuban somewhere about A.H. 400 (= A.D. 1009-1010). To the same writer is ascribed a poem entitled Nlkl-narna ; and it is interesting to note the considerable use made in literature (of which there is a good deal of scattered evidence) of this and other cognate dialects, and to compare the similar state of things which pre-
DOWN TO A.D. 1000 479
vailed in England after the Norman Conquest before victory was assured to the Mercian dialect, and while the other dialects were still contending for the position of literary idioms.
There is another branch of Persian literature (that of the Persian Jews, written in the Persian language but in the
Hebrew character) of which one (and that the '"mer-uure*11 most interesting) monument may possibly go back
to the ninth or tenth century of our era, though Darmesteter and other authorities place it in the Mongol period (thirteenth century of our era), while Munlc puts it a century earlier. To this literature (represented by a considerable number of MSS., of which some twenty are in the Biblio- theque Nationale at Paris) attention was first called by Munlc in the 'Bible de Cahn (ix, pp. 134-159), and it has since been discussed pretty fully by Zotenberg (Merx's Archiv^ vol. i,'Halle, 1870, pp. 385-427), who there published and translated the Apocrypha of Daniel, concerning which we are about to speak ; Paul de Lagarde (Persische Studien, Gflttingen, 1884) ; Dar- mesteter (Revue Critique for June, 1882 : new series, vol. xiii, pp. 450-454 ; and Melanges Renter^ Paris, 1887, pp. 405-420) ; Salemann, and other scholars. Most of this Judaeo-Persian literature is, except from the philological point of view, of little value, consisting merely of vocabularies of Hebrew words explained in Persian, translations of the Pentateuch and other
Hebrew books, and some poems ; but the Apo- ™ofAiSpha cryPha of Daniel (No. 128 of the Hebrew and
Samaritan MSS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale), which, if not itself original, yet represents a lost Chaldaean original, is of an altogether different order. This Apocrypha is divided by Darmesteter into three parts, viz. : (i) A series of legends relating to Daniel, some biblical, some rabbinical ; (2) a pseudo-prophetic sketch of historical events, in which the first definitely recognisable figure is the Prophet Muhammad and the last the Caliph al-Ma'mun (t A.D. 833) ; (3) one of those fanciful descriptions of Messianic times which are so frequent in Jewish works.
480 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIA
To those who believed in the prophetic inspiration of this document the last portion was no doubt the most interesting, but to such as judge by the ordinary standards of criticism it is the second — containing what Darmesteter happily terms, " 1'his- toire proph£tisde " — which most appeals. The Apocrypha pur- ports to contain the vision of things to come until the advent of the Messiah shown by God to the Prophet Daniel, and this vision or Apocalypse is introduced by the words, " O Daniel, I show thee how many kings there shall be in each nation and religion ; I will inform thee how it shall be." Then follow several rather vague references, doubtfully interpreted by Darmesteter as applying to Ahasuerus, the Seleucidas, and the Sasanians ; then a prophetic description of an ungodly king who shall call himself « Bihishtl " (" Celestial "), and by whom, as Darmesteter thinks, Nushirwdn (= Anushak-r&ban = " of Immortal Soul ") is intended ; and then is described " a short, red-complexioned king, who regards not God's Word, and claims to be a prophet, having been a camel driver ; and who shall come forth from the south riding on a camel, greatly persecute the Jews, and die after a reign of eleven years. This personage is evidently intended for Muhammad, and from this, point onwards until the death of al-Ma'mvin (i.e., from A.H. i to2i8 = A.D. 622-833) the succession of Muhammadan rulers can be quite clearly traced. At this point, as Darmesteter admits, the chronological sequence of events ceases ; but in the succeeding paragraphs he thinks that allusion is made to the Crusades, and in particular to Godefroy de Bouillon and his Red Cross Knights ; and that is why he places the composition of the Pseudo-Apocalypse not in the tenth but in the thirteenth century of our era. Personally, I am disposed to regard these supposed references to the Crusades and the red-garbed warriors who shall come from Rum even to Damascus as too indefinite to preclude the possibility that they have no connection with real history, in which case this curious Apocrypha may well belong to the period we have been considering, if not to that previous period which we have called " the Golden Age."
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS BY EUROPEAN SCHOLARS WHICH DEAL WITH THE VARIOUS MATTERS TREATED OF IN THIS VOLUME
Only such Oriental works as have been translated into some European language are, as a rule, mentioned in this place; but the names of all those mentioned in the text are entered in the Index in italics, those actually cited being further marked by an asterisk. Many of them exist only in manuscript ; and the extent to which these manuscripts can be consulted depends on the rules governing the various Libraries where they are preserved. Nearly all the great Continental Libraries are extremely generous in this matter, and freely lend their treasures to other Libraries, or even to individual scholars. Of English public Libraries, those of the India Office and the Royal Asiatic Society are the most liberal ; next comes the University Library of Cambridge, then the Bodleian. The British Museum absolutely refuses, to the great detriment of scholarship, to lend manuscripts under any conditions whatever; and one or two English libraries possessing valuable col- lections of Oriental manuscripts even put difficulties in the way of scholars who wish to consult the manuscripts on the spot. Of private collectors it would be unjust not to mention especially the extraordinary liberality of Lord Crawford, to whom the author of this book is under great obligations. Most unfortunately his fine collection of Oriental manuscripts has now passed into other and less generous hands. The books enumerated below are arranged according to subjects and periods, and only a selection of those deemed most important are mentioned, those adjudged most valuable being marked with an asterisk.* The terms " Ancient " and " Modern " signify pre-Muhammadan andpost-Muham- madan respectively. As a further guide I would also refer the reader to two excellent bibliographies, the first chiefly of works of Geography and Travel, given by Lord Curzon in vol. i of his great book on "Persia" (pp. 16-18) ; the second of works on Literature, History, and Philology in Salemann and Zhukovskfs " Persische Grammatik" \(Pp. 105-118). Very complete bibliographies of the subjects dealt with
32 «*
482 BIBLIOGRAPHY
in Geiger and Kuhn's " Grundriss det Iranischen Philologie " will also be found prefixed to the various sections into which that great work is divided. A very useful list of works connected with Zoroastrianism is also prefixed to Professor A. V. Williams Jackson's excellent monograph on Zoroaster (New York, 1899).
A. GENERAL HISTORY AND PHILOLOGY.
*i. Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, unter Mitwirkung von Chr. Bartholomew, C. H. Ethe, K. F. Geldner, P. Horn, H. Hiibschmann, A. V. W. Jackson, F. Justi, Th. Noldeke, C. Salemann, A. Socin, F. H. Weissbach, und E, W. West, herausgegeben von Wilhelm Geiger und Ernst Kuhn (Strasburg, 1895 — ). This invaluable work — a veritable Encyclopasdia of Persian philology — comprises three volumes ; of which the first treats of the early history of the Iranian languages, especially the language of the Avesta, Old Persian, and Middle Persian or Pahlawi ; the second of the literatures of those languages and of Modern Persian, with a special section on the National Epic by Professor Noldeke ; and the third of the Geography, Ethno- graphy, History (down to modern times), Religion, Coins, and Scripts of Iran.
*2. Iranisches Namenbuch, von Ferdinand Justi (Marburg, 1895). An invaluable " Dictionary of National Biography," so far as Persians bearing Iranian (as opposed to Arabic Muhammadan) names are concerned.
3. Dictionnaire geographique, historique et litteraire de la Perse et des Contrees adjacentes, extrait du Mo'djem el-Bouldan de Yaqout . . . par C. Barbier de Meynard (Paris, 1861).
*4. Chronique de . . . . Tabari, traduite sur la version persane de . . . Bel'ami . . ., par M. Hermann Zotenberg, 4 vols., Paris, 1867-74. This book will give the European reader the best idea of Universal History, including the History of Persia, as understood by the early Muhammadan historians.
5. Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia from the Most Early Period to the Present Time ... (2 vols., London, 1815). '
6. Clement Markham's General Sketch of the History of Persia (i vol., London, 1874).*
1 Both these books confuse Legend with History in their accounts of the earlier period, and are more or less obsolete.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 483
*7. Darmesteter's Eludes Iraniennes (2 vols., Paris, 1883). The first volume contains Etudes sur la Grammaire htstorique de la Langue pcrsane ; the second, Etudes sur la Langite, la Littcrature, les Croyances de la Perse ancienne.
8. Dr. C. E. Sachau's English translation of al-Bi'runfs al- Athdru'l-bdqiya, or Chronology of Ancient Nations (London, 1879), a work of great value and interest, containing an immense amount of varied information.
9. The Muriiju'dh-Dhahab of -Mas'udi, text and French translation in nine vols. (Paris, 1861-1877), entitled Mafoudi: Les Prairies d'Or, texte et Induction par C. Barbier de Meynard et Pavel de Courteille.
B. ANCIENT HISTORY.
*io. Erdnische Alterthumskunde, von Fr. Spiegel (3 vols., Leipzig, 1871-1878). This excellent work treats of the History, Religions, and Antiquities of Persia from the earliest times down to the fall of the Sasanian Dynasty.
11. Geschichte des alien Persiens, von Dr. Ferdinand Justi (Berlin, 1879). This covers the same period as the work last mentioned, but is smaller and more popular, and contains numerous illustrations and a map.
12. Aufsiitze zur persischen Gcschichle, von Th. Noldekc (Leipzig, 1887). This is essentially an enlarged and revised German version of the article on the Ancient History of Persia (till the end of the Sasanian period) contributed by this great scholar to the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britanntca.
13. Le Peuple et la Langue des Medes, pat Jules Oppert (Paris, 1879).
14. G. Rawlinson's Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, or the History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldcea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia. The first edition (London, 1862) com- prises four, the second (1871) three volumes, and the two last volumes in both cases deal with Media and [Achaemenian] Persia.
15. G. Rawlinson's Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, or the Geography, History, and Antiquities of Parthia (London, 1873).
I
484 BIBLIOGRAPHY
16. G. Ravvlinson's Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, ot the Geography, &c.,oftheSdsdnianorNew Persian Empire (London, 1876).
17. G. Rawlinson's Parthia, in the Story of the Nations Series (London, 1893).
*i8. Professor Th. Noldeke's Geschichte der Perser und Araber utt Zeit der Sasaniden, aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari ubersetzf, und mil ausfiihrlichen Erldutentngen und Ergamungen versehn (Leyden, 1879). This is by far the best work on the Sasanian Period.
19. Professor Thomas Hyde's Veierum Persarum et Parthorum et Medorum Religionis Historia (first ed., Oxford, 1700 ; second edition, 1760). Though obsolete, this work is still interesting and suggestive.
20. W. Geiger's Osliramsche Kultur tm Altertum (1882) ; English translation of the same by Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana : Civilisation of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times (London, 1885).
C. ANCIENT PHILOLOGY, (a) OLD PERSIAN.
21. F. Stolze's Persepolis (Berlin, 1882), with an Introduction by Noldeke, and many beautiful photographs of the ruins and inscrip- tions.
22. M. Dieulafoy : L'Art antique de la Perse (Paris, 1884).
*23. Fr. Spiegel : Die Allpersischen Keilinscriflen im Grundlexle, mil Ucbersetzung, Grammatik und Glossar (Leipzig, 1862 : second and enlarged edition, 1881).
*24. Dr. C. Kossowicz : Inscriptions Palceo-Persicce Achcemem- darum (St. Petersburg, 1872). The Inscriptions are here printed in the appropriate Cuneiform type.
(6) AVESTA.
25. Eugene Burnouf : Vendidad Sade, Fun des hvres de Zoroastre, lithographil d'apres le Manuscrit Zend de la Bibliotheque Royalc , . . (Paris, 1829-1843).
26. H. Brockhaus : Vendidad sade, die heihgen Schnften Zoroaster's Yacna, Vispered und Vendidad, nach den lilhographirten Ausgaben von
BIBLIOGRAPHY 485
Paris und Bombay, mil Index und Glossar herausgegeben (Leipzig, 1850).
27. N. L. Westergaard : Zendavesta . . . vol. i, the Zend texts (Copenhagen, 1852-54).
28. Fr. Spiegel : Avesfa . . . im Grundtexte sammt der Huz- vBresch-Uebersetzung (2 vols., Vienna, 1853-58).
29. K. F. Geldner : Avesta ... (3 parts, Stuttgart, 1886-95).
30. Mills and Darmesteter's English translation of the Zend Avesta in vols. iv, xxiii, and xxxi of Professor Max Miiller's Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1877, 1880, 1883, and second ed. of vol. iv in 1895).
*3i. Darmesteter: Le Zend Avesta: tradudion nouvelle avec com- mentaire historique el philologique (3 vols., Paris, 1892-93 : vols. xxi, xxii, and xxiv of the Annales du Musee Guimef).
32. C. de Harlez : Avesta . . . traduit du Texte tend (3 vols., Liege, 1875-1877 ; second edition, Paris, 1881).
33. Fr. Spiegel: Avesta . . . uebersclzt (3 vols., Leipzig, 1852-63). There is an English translation of this by A. Bleeck (Hertford, 1864).
34. L. H. Mills : A Study oj the Five Zoroastrian Gdthds (Erlangen, 1894).
35. Ferdinand Justi : Handbitch der Zendsprache (Leipzig, 1864). ^36. C. de Harlez : Manuel de la Langtte de I' Avesta (Paris, 1882).
37. A. V. W. Jackson : An Avesta Grammar . . . (Stuttgart, 1892) ; Idem, An Avesta Reader (1893).
38. Fr. Spiegel : Grammatik der altbaktrischen Sprache (Leipzig, 1867),
(c) PAHLAWI AND ITS CONNECTION WITH MODERN PERSIA.
*39. Martin Haug"s Introductory Essay on the Pahlavi Language (pp. 152), prefixed to Dastur Hoshangji Jamaspji Asa's Old Pahlavi' Pazand Glossary (Bombay and London, 1870).
486 BIBLIOGRAPHY
40. C. de Harlez : Manuel du Pehlevi des livres religieux et historiques de la Perse: Grammaire, Anthologie, Lexique (Paris, 1880).
*4i. C. Salemann, Mittelpersische Studien in the Bulletins de I'Acad. de St. Petersbourg for 1887, pp. 417, et seqq = Melanges Asiaiiqnes, vol. ix, pp. 207 et seqq. Also the same scholar's article Mittelpersisch in vol. i of Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss, pp. 249-332,
*42. West, Haug, and Dastur Hoshangji Jamaspji Asa : The Book of Arda Viraf : Pahlavi text .... with an English translation and Introduction . . . (Bombay and London, 1872) ; Glossary and Index of the same (1874).
43. West : The Mainyo-i-Khard (or " Spirit of Wisdom ") Pazand and Sanskrit Texts (in Roman characters) .... with an English translation. . . . Sketch of Pazand Grammar and Introduction (Stuttgart and London, 1871).
*44- F. C. Andreas : Pah law! text of the above, a facsimile of a MS. brought from Persia by Westergaard and preserved at Copen- hagen (Kiel, 1882).
45. Prof. Th. Noldeke : Persische Studien I and II in vols. cxvi and cxxvi of the Sitzb. d. K. Ak. d. Wissenschaflen in Wicn, phil.-hist. Class. (Vienna, 1888 and 1892).
46. A. Barthelemy : Gujaslak Abalish, relation dune Conference theologique presidee par le Calif e Mdmoun: texte pehlm . . . avec traduction, commentaire et lexique (Paris, 1887).
47. P. Horn : Grundriss der Neupersischen Etymologie (Strassburg, 1893)-
48. H. Hiibschmann : Persische Studien (Strassburg, 1895). Idem, Armcnische Grammatik (Leipzig, 1897).
49. Paul dc Lagarde : Persische Studien (Gottingen, 1884).
50. Fr. Spiegel : Gramm. der Parsisprache nebst Sprachproben (Leipzig, 1851). Idem, Die Traditionelle Litcratur der Parsen in ihrem Zusammenhange mit den angranzenden Literaturen (Vienna, 1860).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 487
*5i. E. W. West : On the extent, language, and age of Pahlavi literature, in the Sitzb. d. philos-philol. Classe der K. Akad. d. Wissenschaften vom 5 Mai, 1888 (pp. 396-443 : Berlin).
D. PRE-MUHAMMADAN RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS.
(a) ZOROASTRIANISM.
*52. Professor A. V. Williams Jackson : Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran (New York, 1899). The reader's attention is again especially called to the excellent List of Works connected with the Subject, which occupies pp. xi-xv of this admirable work.
53. A Hovelacque : L'Avesta, Zoroastre et le Mazdeisme (Paris, 1880).
54. E. W. West : Pahlavi Texts translated, in vols. v, xviii, xxiv, xxxvii and xlvii of the Sacred Books of the East.
55. Professor C. P. Tiele : Geschichte der Religion im Altertum bis auf Alexander den Grossen: deutsche autorisierte Ausgabe von G. Gehrich : vol. xi ; Die Religion bei den iranischen Volkern : ersle Halfte, pp. 1-187 (Gotha, 1898).
56. John Wilson : The Parsl Religion as contained in the Zand- Avastd (Bombay, 1843).
57. Martin Haug : Essays on the Parsis, 3rd ed., edited and enlarged by E. W. West (London, 1884).
58. Dosabhai Framji Karaka : History of the Parsis (2 vols., London, 1884).
59. Mademoiselle D. Menant : Les Parsis, Histotre des Commu- nautes Zoroastriennes de I'Inde: Annales du Musee Guimet, Biblio- theque d' Etudes, vol. vii (Paris, 1898).
60. A Houtum-Schindler : Die Parsen in Persien, Hire Sprache und einige ihrer Gebrauche, in vol. xxxvi (1882 : pp. 54-88) of the Zeit- schrift d. deutsch. Morgcnland. Gesellsch.
(fr.) CHRISTIANS UNDER SASANIAN RULE.
*6i. Georg Hoffmann : Auszuge aus Syrischen Akten persischer Martyrer . . . (Leipzig, 1880).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
62. Dr. W.Wright: The Chronicle of Joshua the Sty lite, composed in Syriac, A.D. 507, with a translation and notes (Cambridge, 1882).
i (c) MANICH^EANS, BARDESANIANS, AND SAB^JANS.
*63 Gustav Fliigel : Mam, seine Lehre und seine Schriften (Leipzig, 1862).
64. Dr. Konrad Kessler : Mani : Forschungen iiber die Manich'dische Religion (Berlin, 1889).
65. Professor A. A. Bevan : The Hymn of the Soul, contained in the. Syriac Acts of St.. Thomas : re-edited with an English translation , . . (Cambridge, 1897). Also the same Hymn of Bardaisan rendered (more freely) into English, by F. C. Burkitt (London, Essex House Press, 1899).
*66. Dr. D. Chwolson : Die Ssabier und Ssabismus (2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1856).
67. E. Rochat : Mani et sa Doctrine (Geneva, 1897).
E. THE PERSIAN EPIC AND NATIONAL LEGEND.
*68. Professor Th. Noldeke : Das Iranische Nationalepos : beson- dererAbdruck aus dem Grundriss derlranischen Philologie (Strassburg, 1896).
69. Fr. Windischmann : Zoroastrische Studien : Abhandlungen ztit Mythologie und Sagengeschichte des alien Iran (edited by Fr. Spiegel : Berlin, 1863).
*7o. The Shdhndma of Firdawsi. There are three editions by Europeans ; that of *Turner Macan (4 vols., Calcutta, 1829) ; that of *Jules Mohl (7 large folio vols., Paris, 1838-78), which is accom- panied by a French translation and commentary; and that of Viillers and Landauer (3 vols., Leyden, 1877-84). The last is incom- plete, being only carried down to Alexander, and omitting the whole Sasanian period. Mohl's translation has also been published without the text by Madame Mohl (7 vols., Paris, 1876-78). There is also a German translation by Riickert (edited by Bayer, 3 vols., Berlin, 1890-95). Of abridged translations, mention may be made of A. F. von Schack's Heldensagen des Firdusi, in deutscher Nachbildung nebst einer Einleitung (Stuttgart, 1877), and of the English abridgments of ^ J. Atkinson and Helen Zimmermann.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 489
*7i. Noldeke : Gesch. des Artachshir-i-Pdpakdn, aus dem Pehlewi iibersetzt (Gottingen, 1879).
72. Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana : The Kdrndme-i-Arlakhshir-i Pdpakdn . . . Pahlavi text with transliteration . . . translations into English and Gujeraii, &c. (Bombay, 1896).
*73- W. Geiger : Das Ydtkdr-i-Zarirdn und sein Verhdllniss zum Shah-name in the Sitzb. d. philos. philol. und histor. Cl. d. K. layer. Ak. d. Wiss. for 1890, vol. ii, part i, pp. 43-84 (Munich, 1890). The Pahlawi text of this was published (Bombay, 1897), by Jamaspji Dastur Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, and translations into English and Gujerati (Bombay, 1899) by Jivanji Jamshedji Modi.
74. The Desatir, or Sacred Writings of the Ancient Persian Prophets, &c., published by Mulla Firuz bin Kaus, with an English translation, in 2 vols. (Bombay, 1818).
75. The Dabistdn . . . translated from the original Persian by Shea and Troyer (3 vols., Paris, 1843).
*76. Histoire des Rots de Perse par . . . al-Tha'dlibt : texte arabe, public et traduit par H. Zotenberg (i large folio vol., Paris, 1900).
F. MUHAMMAD, THE QUR'AN AND THE CALIPHATE.
*77. Ibn Hisham's (the oldest extant) Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Siratu'n-Nabi), edited in the original Arabic by F. Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1858-60); translated into German (Das Leben Muhammeds . . . : Stuttgart, 1864) by Gustav Weil.
*78. The Qur'an (Coran, Alcoran) : editions by Fliigel, Redslob, &c. ; English, translations by G. Sale (1774, and numerous later editions), J. M. Rodwell (2nd ed., London, 1876), and Professor E. H. Palmer in vols. vi and ix of the Sacred Books of the East; French by Kazimirski (Paris, 1854) ; German by Ullmann (fourth ed., Bielefeld, 1857) ; Concordance (Arabic) by Fliigel (Leipzig, 1842) ; Extracts in the original, with English translation, compiled by Sir W. Muii {London, 1880). * Noldeke's Geschichte des Qordns is invaluable (Gottingen, 1860). A useful little book for the general reader on The Coran was published by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.
79. Sprenger's Leben und Lehre Mohamnteds (3 vols., Berlin, 1869).
490 BIBLIOGRAPHY
*8o. Wellhausen's Mtihammed in Medina; an abridged translation \ of al-Waqidi's KUdbu'l-Maghazi (Berlin, 1882).
*8i. Noldeke's Das Leben Multammed's, nach den Quellen popular dargestellt (Hannover, 1863).
~~- 82. Sir' William Muir i Life oj Mahomet and History of Islam (4 vols., London, 1858-61 ; 3rd ed., 1895).
83. Idem, Annals of the Early Caliphate (London, 1883).
*84. Idem, The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall (2nd ed., London, 1892).
85. Ludolf Krehl : Das Leben und die Lehre des Muhammed (Leipzig, 1884).
*86. Gustav Weil : Geschichte det Chalifen (4 vols., Mannheim and Stuttgart, 1846-62 : vol. iv, which is divided into 2 parts, treats of the 'Abbasid Caliphate in Egypt after the Mongol Invasion).
*87. Syed Ameer Ali : The Life and Teachings of Mohammed and the Spirit of Islam (London, 1891) ; Idem, A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed, published some eighteen years earlier.
88. G. Fliigel : Geschichte der Araber bis aufden Stum des Chalifats von Bagdad (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1864).
89. G. Weil : Geschichte der islamitischen Volket von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des Sultan Selim Ubersichtlich dargestellt (Stuttgart, 1866).
G. ISLAM, ITS SECTS AND ITS CIVILISATION.
"90. Dozy : Het Islamisme (Leyden, 1863 : Haarlem, 1880) ; French translation of the same by Victor Chauvin, entitled, Essai sur I'Histoire de f Islamisme (Leyden-Paris, 1879).
*gi. Alfred von Kremer : Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des I slams; der Gottesbegriff, die Prophetie und Staatsidee (Leipzig, 1868).
*92. Idem, Cultergeschichtliche Streifziige auf dem Gebiete de$ I slams (Leipzig, 1873).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 491
*93. Idem, Cultnrgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen (2 vols., Vienna, 1875-77).
*94. Dr. Ignaz Goldziher : Muhammedatnsche Studien (2 vols., Halle, 1889-90).
*95. T. W. Arnold : The Preaching of Islam, a History of the Propa- gation of the Muslim Faith (London, 1896).
*96. Shahristani's Kitabu'l-Milal wa'n-Nihal, or Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, edited by W. Cureton (London, 1846) ; translated into German, with Notes, by Th. Haarbriicker (Halle, 1850-51).
*97. Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena (or Muqaddamdf) to his great history. Complete ed. in 7 vols. (Bulaq, A.H. 1284) ; separate ed. of the Prolegomena (Beyrout, 1879) ; text and French translation of the Prolegomena (the former edited by Quatremere, the latter by MacGuckin de Slane) in vols. xvi-xxi of Notices et Exlraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale.
*98. T. P. Hughes : Notes on Muhammadanism (London, 1877 and 1878) : Idem, A Dictionary of Islam, being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies and Customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan Religion (2nd ed., London, 1896).
*99. H. Steiner : Die Alu'taziliien oder die Freidenker im Islam, and Die Mu'taziliten als Vorlaiifer der islamischen Dogmatiker und Philosophen . . ., both published in Leipzig in 1865.
*ioo. Briinnow : Die Charidschiten . . . (Leyden, 1884).
101. W. Spitta : Zur Geschichfe Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash'an's (Leipzig, 1876).
102. Goldziher : Dte Schule der Zahiriten, ihr Ursprung, ihr System und Hire Geschichte (Leipzig, 1884).
103. S. Guyard : Fragments relatifs a la Doctrine des Ismaelh . . . avec tradttction et notes (Paris, 1874) : Idem, Un grand Maitre des Assassins (extrait du Journal Asiatique, Paris, 1877).
*io4- S. de Sacy : Expose de la Religion des Druzes (Paris, 1838 : a vols.).
\
\
492 BIBLIOGRAPHY
105. Von Hammer : Histoire de I'Ordre des Assassins . . . traduit de I'allemand . . . par J. J. Hellert et P. A. de la Nourais (Paris, 1833)-
106. Tholuck's Ssiifismus, sive Theosophia Persanim Pantheistica (Berlin, 1821) ; Idem, Bliithensammlung aus der Morgenlandischen Mystik (Berlin, 1825).
*iO7. Dr. Fr. Dieterici : Die Philosophic der Araber tin ix u. x Jahr. n. Chr., aus der Theologie des Aristoteles, den Abhandlungen Alfanibls und den Schriflen der lantern Brilder . . . 16 Biicher (Berlin, Leipzig, Leyden, 1858-94).
108. Professor de Goeje : Memoires sur les CarmaUies du Bahrain et les Fatimides (Leyden, 1886).
H. BIOGRAPHY, BIBLIOGRAPHY, LITERARY HISTORY, RHETORIC, ETC.
*ioo,. Ibn Khallikan's Wafaydtul-A'ydn, Biographical Dictionary of eminent and famous Muslims : Arabic text, edited by Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1837 ; 2 vols.) ; English translation, with Notes, by the Baron MacGuckin de Slane (4 vols., Paris and London, 1842-71).
*uo. Hajji Khalfa (Khalifa)'s Bibliographical Dictionary, the Kashfu 'dh-Dhum'm 'an Asami l-Kutub wa'l-Funun, Arabic text with Latin translation, by Gustav Flu' gel (7 vols., Leipzig, 1835-58). This work is indispensable for the identification of Muhammadan books, and as the author died as late as A.D. 1658, it includes all but the most modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature. Fliigel's edition contains full and excellent Indices.
*iu. Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte dei Arabischen Litteraiut (vol. i, 1897-98 ; vol. ii, part I, 1899 : Weimar). Not to be con- founded with this is a more popular work by the same author and bearing the same title, which forms half of vol. vi of a series now in process of publication at Leipzig (C. F. Amelangs Verlag) entitled Die Literaturen des Ostens in Einzeldarstellungen. The other half of this volume (published in 1901) is formed by —
*H2. Dr. Paul Horn's Geschichte der Persisclien Liferatur.
113. Pizzi, besides his Manuale delta lingua persiana (1883), has published (in Italian) an excellent little sketch of Persian Literature from the earliest times.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 493
n.«. Professor Th. Noldeke : Beitrage zur Keniniss der Poesie det alien A raber (Hannover, 1864).
*H5- F. Wiistenfeld : Die Geschichtschreiber der Arabet und ihre Werke (Gottingen, 1882).
116. I. Guidi : Tables alphabctiques du Kitdbu'l-Aghdnt, comprcnant (/') Index des poetes dont le " KiUib " cite des vers ; (ii) Indev des rimes ; (in) Index hisiorique ; (iv) Index geographique ; rcdigees avec la collaboration de MM. R. E. Briinnow, S. Fraenkel, H. D. Van Geldcr, W. Guirgass, E. Hclouis, H. G. Kleyn, Fr. Seybold et G. Van Vloten. (Leyden, 1895-1900). One large, stout volume of 769 + xi pp., invaluable for such as can use the vast stores of verse and anecdote contained in the 20 volumes of the great Arabic anthology to which it forms the guide and key.
117. Darmesteter : Les engines tie la Poesie persane (Paris, 1887).
*n8. Ethe : numerous monographs on the early Persian poets (see n. 2 on p. 452 supra, but this list is by no means complete) ; article on Persian Literature in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Brilannica; and * article in vol. ii (pp 212-368) of Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss (No. i supra).
119. Sir Gore Ouseley's Biographical Notices of Persian Poets \ (London, 1846). An entertaining and instructive, though in some ' respects obsolete, book.
120. A. de Biberstein Kazimirski's Introduction to his Dlwdn of Miniichihri (" Menoutchehri "), Paris, 1886.
*I2I. Fr Wiistenfeld : Die Academien der Araber und ihre Lehrer (Gottingen, 1837) ; Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher (1840). %
*I22. Francis Gladwin : Dissertations on the Rhetoric, Prosody, and Rhyme of the Persians (Calcutta : reprinted in London, 1801).
*I23. H. Blochmann : The Prosody of the Persians (Calcutta, 1872).
*I24- Friedrich Riickert : Grammatik, Poetik, und Rhetorik det Perser . . . neu herausgegeben von W. Pertsch (Gotha, 1874).
125. Cl. Huart's French translation (Paris, 1875) of the Anlsu'l-
494 BIBLIOGRAPHY
/-. 'Ushshdq (" Lover's Companion ") of Sharafu'd-Din Kami is a valu- able guide to Persian lyric verse.
126. Th. Noldeke : Sketches from Eastern History, translated by John Sutherland Black (London and Edinburgh, 1892).
*I27. Wiistenfeld's Vergleichungs-Tabellen der Muhammedanischen und Christlichen Zeiirechnung (Leipzig, 1854), with Supplement (Fortsetzung) by Dr. Ed. Mahler (Leipzig, 1887) continuing the reckoning from A.H. 1300 (A.D. 1883), where Wiistenfeld concluded his tables, to A.H. 1500 (A.D. 2077). This book is indispensable for all who have occasion to convert Muhammadan into Christian dates, or vice versa.
I. ARABIC AND MODERN PERSIAN LANGUAGES.
As before said, Arabic and Persian works which have not been translated into some European language are excluded from the above list, since their inclusion would have greatly increased the size of the Bibliography without advantage to the majority of readers, who are ignorant of these languages. Some readers of this class may, perhaps, desire to begin the study of one or both of these languages, and for their benefit I will add a few words as to suitable grammars, dictionaries, and other text- books ; a subject on which I constantly receive inquiries, even from complete strangers.
Excellent small grammars of both languages are included in the Porta Linguarum Orientalium Series published by H. Reuther (Carlsruhe and Leipzig). All the volumes in this series are originally in German, but some (including the Arabic Grammar of Socin) exist also in English. The Persian Grammar, by Salemann and Zhukovski (1889), is only published in German. The earlier (1885) edition of Socin's Grammar contains a much better Chrestomathy than the later one, from which the best Arabic extracts were removed to form part of a separate Arabic Chrestomathy, by Briinnow (1895) in the same series. The student who wishes to get some idea of Arabic will find the 1885 edition sufficient by itself ; but if he cannot obtain it, and has to be content with the later edition, he must get the Chrestomathy as well.
Both of these Grammars, the Arabic and the Persian, contain excellent Bibliographies of the most important and useful books for students of the respective languages, and it is not necessary for me to repeat here the ample information on this subject which can be found in these small and inexpensive but myst meritorious volumes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 495
For the study of Arabic the best grammar is Wright's (3rd ed., revised by W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje : 2 vols., Cambridge, 1896-98) ; Palmer's (London, 1874), though neither so full nor so accurate, is easier and pleasanter reading. Ol Dic- tionaries the only small, inexpensive, and yet fairly complete one is Belot's Vocabulaire Arabe-Franfais a I'usage des Etudianls (4th ed., Beyrout, 1896 : pp. 1,001 : price about ten shillings). There are also a Diclionnaire Franfais-Arabe (Beyrout, 1890 : pp. 1,609) and a Cours pratique de la Langue Arabe (Beyrout, 1896), by the same author. Fuller, larger, and even better, but about four or five times as costly, is A. de Biberstein Kazimirski's Dictionnaire Arabe- Franfais (2 vols., pp. 1,392 and 1,638 : Paris, 1846-60). Dozy's Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes (Leyden, 1881 ; 2 vols., pp. 864 and 856) is invaluable for later Arabic writers. Lane's great Arabic- English Lexicon (London, 1863 — ), is a magnificent torso. There are also Arabic- English Dictionaries by Steingass (London, 1884), and Salmone (London, 1890).
For Persian the number of dictionaries and grammars is legion, but it is much harder to name the best than in the case of Arabic. Persian is so simple a language that almost any decent grammar will serve the purpose, and a really scientific grammar of first-class merit yet remains to be written. In England the grammars of Forbes (4th ed., London, 1869), Mirza Ibrahim (Haileybury and London, 1843 : Fleischer's German version of the same, Leipzig, 1847 and 1875) and Plaits (Part i : Accidence : London, 1894) are most used, with Rosen (English translation by Dr. E. Denison Ross) for more colloquial purposes. In French there is the truly admir- able work of A. de Biberstein Kazimirski, Dialogues francais-persans, precedes d'un precis de la Grammaire persane, et suivis d'un Vocabulaire franfais-persan (Paris, 1883), as well as the Grammars of Chodzko (1852 and 1883), Guyard (1880) and Huart (1899), with the Dialogues persan-francais (1857), and the Dictionnaire francais-persan (1885- 1887) of J. B. Nicolas. In German, besides the two already men- tioned, there is Wahrmund (Giessen, 1875) ; in Italian, Pizzi's Manuale (see above, No. 1 13) ; and in Latin Vullers' Grammatica Lingua Persicce (Giessen, 1870), written chiefly from the point of view of the Comparative Philologist.
In English the best small dictionaries ( Persian- Engl. and Engl.-Persian) are by E. H. Palmer ; larger ones are the Persian- Engl. Dictionary of Steingass (1,539 PP- > London, 1892) and the two English- Persian Dictionaries (a larger and a smaller, London, 1882 and 1889) of Wollaston, who was assisted by Mirza Muhammad Baqir of Bawanat (see p. 390 of this book). Vullers' Lexicon Persico-
496 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Latinum Etymologicum (2 large vols., Bonn, 1855-67), though cum- brous and badly arranged, is on the whole indispensable until the student has learned enough Persian to use the native dictionaries (Burhdn-i-Qdti', Farhang-i-Rashidi, &c.) from which it is chiefly compiled. As a reading-book nothing on the whole excels the Gulistdn of Sa'di, of which there are good editions (furnished with full vocabularies) and translations by Eastwick and Platts.
INDEX
In the following Index, where a large number of references occur under one heading, the more important are, as a rule, printed in thicker type. The prefixes Abu (" Father of . . ."), Ibn ("Son of . . .") are disregarded in the arrangement of Muhammadan names into which they enter : thus, for example, such names as Abu Tahir and Ibn Sina are to be sought under T and S respectively. A hyphen prefixed to a name indicates that it is properly preceded by the Arabic definite article al- ; the letter b. between two names stands for ibn, " son of . . ." Names of books, both Oriental and European, are printed in italics, and an asterisk is prefixed to those from which citations of any considerable length occur in the text Names of authors and other persons whose words are cited are similarly distinguished.
For typographical reasons it has been found necessary to omit in the Index the accents Indicating the long vowels and the dots and dashes distinguishing the hard letters in the Arabic and Persian names and words which it comprises. The correct transliteration i,f such words must therefore be sought in the text.
Aaron, 409
Ababil (birds), 178
Abalish "the Accursed," 104,
105, 107
Aban al-Lahiqi, 332 Abarsam, 138 -'Abbas, 195, 214 •Abbas Efendi, 311 -'Abbas b. -Ahnaf (poet), 277 -'Abbas b. 'Amr-Ghanawi
(general), 354, 402 -'Abbas b. -Walid (Umayyad
Crince), 242 bas of Merv (alleged author of oldest Persian poem), 13, 340, 452
Abu'l-'Abbas -Sal/ah, g.v. (first 'Abbasid Caliph), 237, 240, 241, 243, 251, 254, 257
*Abu'l-'Abbas Fadl b. -'Abbas (Persian poet), 458
'Abbasid Caliphs, 6, 90, 159, 168, 208, 209, 210, 214, 23~6- 247 (rise to power), 251- 253 (character of dynasty), thence onwards passim
'Abdan (Carinathian), 397, 401
•Abdu'llah b. 'AH (great- grandson of -'Abbas), 254
'Abdullah b. 'Abdu'l-Muttalib (the Prophet's father), 214
•Abdu'llah b. 'Amr b. -'A» -Zuhri (scholar), 272
'Abdu'llah (brother of Babak), 329, 33°
'Abdu'llah b. Marwan (Umay- yad prince), 244
'Abdu'llah b. Maymun -Qad-
dah, 393, 394, 396-398, 406.
407, 409, 410 'Abdu'llah b. Saba (first to
teach Divinity of 'AH), 220 'Abdu'llah b. Sa'id ('Abbasid
propagandist), 310 'Abdu'llah b. Shu'ba (officer
of Abu Muslim), 309 'Abdu'llah b. Tahir (Tahirid
prince), 12, 278, 330, 335. 346 'Abdullah b. VVahb -Kasibi
(Kharijite Anti-Caliph), 222 'Abdu'llah b. Zubayr, 228-231 Abu Abdi'llah (Carmathian
da'i), 397 Abu Abdi'llah Muhammad b.
Khafif of Shiraz (Sufi), 372 'Abdu'l-'Aziz (Umayyad), 215 •Abdu'l-Khaliq (Abdul Chalig)
" Achundow," 478 'Abdu'l - Malik (Umayyad
Caliph), 103, 206, 215, 2s8,
230, 238, 263, 273, 283, 317,
3«* 'Abdu'l-Malik I (Samanid),
372, 463 'Abdu'l-Malik II (Samanid),
468
'Abd Manaf (Qurayshite), 214 *'Abdu'l-Masih (soothsayer),
173, 182 'Abdu'l-Muttalib (grandfather
of the Prophet), 177, 214 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi (historian,
of Cordova), 15, 268, 366 'Abdu'r-Rahman (founder of
Umayyad dynasty of Cor- dova), 215, 245
33
'Abdu'r-Rahman b. -Ash'ath
Rebellion of — , 234 'Abdu'r-Kahman b. 'Awf, 195,
202, 388, 450
'Abdu'r-Rahman b. Harmala
-Aslami (traditionist), 273 'Abd Shams (Qurayshite),
214
'Abd Zohar (coins of — ), 80 Abel, 14, 162 Aberystwyth, 453 Abhar (Persian town), 86 'Abid b. Shariya of San'a
(early Arab writer), 273 Abraha (Abyssinian King),
I7S-I78 Abraham, 385, 408, 409, 427 ;
— identified with Zoroaster,
113
Abtin (father of Feridun), 115 Abyssinians, 118, 175, 178-181.
186-188 Achxmenes (= Hakhaman-
ish), 92, 121 Achu:menian dynasty, 4, 8, 7,
11, 18, 19, 24, 28, 30, 36, 37,
39, 56, 60, 65, 67, 70, 79, 82,
88, 90, 94, 96, 103, 121, 127,
151, 212. See also Old
Persian
Acts of Archelaus, 155 Acts of the Persian Martyrs,
134
'Ad (ancient tribe), 430 Adam, 14, 27, 162, 316, 320,
408, 409 Adam (grandfather of Baya-
zid of bistam), 427 Adams, Sir Thomas — , 41
497
498
INDEX
Adhar- (Atur-) Farnbag, son
of Farrukh-zad, 104, 105 Adhar Gushasp (Sacred Fire),
139. 140 Adharpadh Mahraspand
(Zoroastrian priest), 101 Adabu'l-Katib (of Ibn Qu-
tayba), 277 'Adudu'd-Dawla (Buwayhid),
12, 370, 37L 398 j^schylus, 91 Ethiopians, 271, 349, 454.
See also Zanj. Etiology, Poetical (Husn-i-
ta-lil), 465
Afarin (minstrel), 18 Afarin-nama (of Abu Shu-
kur), 466 'Affan (father of the Caliph
'Uthman), 215 Afghanistan, Afghans, 4, 28,
83
Afrasiyab, 116 Africa] 189, 251, 339, 3.19, 352,
359. 367, 397, 4°2 Afrinngan (Zoroastrian dox-
ologiee), 101 Afshin (general), 252, 323, 329-
336
Agathias, 122, 421 Agesilaus (of Xenophon), 91 Agha Muhammad Khan
(Qajar), 207 Ahasuerus, 20, 480 *Ahli of Shiraz (poet), 225 Ahlu'1-ahwa, 289 Ahlu'l-'acll wa't-tawhid, 281.
See also Mit'tazilites Ahlu's-suffa, 297 Ahmad b. Abi Du'ad (one of
Afshin's judges), 331, 335,
336 Ahmad b. Hanbal (Sunnite
Imam), 273, 284, 291, 295,
344. 345. 3Gi Ahmad b. Isma'il (Samanid),
352, 466 Ahmad b. Khidrawayh (Sufi),
424
Ahmad-Khujistani, 355 Ahmad b. Nasr -Khuza'i (con- spirator), 285 Ahmad (successor of Abdu'!-
lah b. Maymun -Qaddah),
397, 4«) *Abu Ahmad b. Abu Bakr
-Katib (poet), 465-466 Ahriman, 35, 52, 56, 114, 146.
Sec also Aura Mainyush -Ahsa, 403 Ahsanu't-iaqasim fi nta'H-
fati'l-aqalim (of -Muqad-
dasi), 373 Ahuna - vairya (verse of
Avesta), 98 Ahura Mazda, 25, 32, 34, 35,
64. 65, 72, 93, 04, 95, 1 14, 160 :
— (name of the planet
Jupiter), 461
Ahwaz, 313, 347, 364, 371, 396 Airan (= Iran, q v.), 4 Airyana (= Airan), 4
Airyana Vaeja, 25, 35, 36
'A'isha (wife of Prophet), 214, 217, 343
'Aja'iWl-Hind, 368
'Ajam, 265, 268. See also Persian
Ajari (name of Manichaans), 164
Akasira (plural of Kisra), 127. See Snsanians
Akbar, Emperor of India, 166
*-Akhbaru't-ihval, 357. See -Dinau-ari
-Akhfash (grammarian), 278
Akhshuuwar (Turkish Kha- qan). 121
-Akhtal (Arab poet), 280
Akhu Muhsin, 411
Akkadian language, 65, 66, 74
Abu'l-'Ala. See -Ma'arri
Albategnius, 363. See -Bat- tani
Albertus Magnus. 40
Albigenses, 154, 160
Alchemy, 274, 362, 379, 428, 43°
Alchemy of Happiness (of -Ghazzali), 293
Aleppo, 218, 302, 322, 423
Alexander "the Great," 9, 21, 37. 60, 79, 91, 06, 97, 106, in, 118-121, 139, 304, 305
Alexander Romance, 118, 150
Alexandria, 366
Alexandrian School, 96, 97. See Neo-Platonism.
'All b. Abi Talib (cousin of the Prophet and First Imam of the Shi'ites), 98, 130, 133, 180, iQ4, 203. 210, 212, 214-224 226 228, 231, 2i5. 239. 246, 252, 25H, 261, 276, 283, 290, 21/1, 342, 343, 348, 350. 388, 391, 392, 398, 407, 408, 409. See also Ghitlat, Shi'iUs.
'AH b. -Husayn b. 'All. See Zayn u'l-'A bidin.
'Ah Akbar, 131
•AH Asghar, 131
'Ali -Rida. SecRiiia.Imam — .
'AH b. -'Abbas -Majusi (phy- sician). 375
'Ali b. 'Abdu'llah b. -'Abbas,
254
'AH b. Buwayh, 360. See 'Imadti'd-Dawla.
'AH b. H.imza-Kisa'i (gram- marian), 276
'Ali b. Harun-Shaybani (Sa- manid poet), 365
'Ali b. Hisham, 334
'AH b. 'Isa (Wazir of -Muq- tadtr), 360, 429, 434
'Ali b. Jahm -Sami (poet),
345
'AH b. Muhammad -Warza- nini (leader of Zanj re- bellion), 350
'Ali Mazdak, 247, 328
Abu 'Ali -Bal'ami, 356, 368, 478
•AHds('Ala\v!yya, descendants
of 'Ali b. Abu Talib), 239.
See Imams, Shi'ites. Ahgarh. 202 Ibnu'I-'Allaf (poet), 363 Allah Ta'ala (God), how re- garded by heathen Arabs,
190 Allegorical Interpretation,
285. See Ta'wil. Alptagin (founder of Ghaz-
na\vi dynasty), 372 Alpuxarras Mountains, 9 Alvand, Mount — , 63 Amadana, 20. SeeHamadan. Ameer Ali, Sayyid — , 188 America, Babiism in — , 311 Amid (Diyar Bakr), 134 Amin ('Abbasid Caliph), 252,
254, 256 Aminu Ali Muhammad (title
of Abu Muslim, q.v.), 256 'Amiri, Muhammad b. 'Ab-
du'r-Rahman — (jurist), 273 Ibn 'Amir ('Uthman's cousin),
216 Amir Pazawari (Mazandarani
poet), 83 Amiru'l - Kafirin, -Ma'mun
called — , 307 Amir-1 Sa'id (title of Nasr II
the Samanid), 365 Amiru'l Umara (title of Bu-
wayhids), 364, 367 Ammianus Marcellinus, 66,
75
Ammonius, 421 'Amr b. -'As, 218. 219 'Amr b. Bahr. See -Jahidh. 'Amr b. Layth (Saffarid), 348,
352, 354- 355, 359, 453 'Amr b. Sa'd, 228 •Amr b. 'Uthman - Makki
(Sufi), 436 'A. M. S (Nusayri Trinity),
203
Amshaspands, 100, 101, 160 Anabasis of Xenophon, 91 Anahita (Nahid, the planet
Venus), 95, 461 "Ana'1-Haqq," 361, 362 -Andakhudi, Shamsu'd-Din
Muhammad (biographer of
poets), 448 Andalusia, 263. See Cordova,
Spain Andreas, F. C. — , 70, 78, 82,
106
Angels, 160 Angles, 5 Anglo-Saxon language, 82, 95 ;
teaching of — introduced at
Cambridge, 41 Annihilation in God (= F ana
fi'llah, q.v.), 443 Anoshak-rubano. See Nnshir-
wan Anquetil du Perron, 42, 43,
45-53- 56-58, 61, 62, 67, 97 Anra Mainyush (= Ahriman,
q-v.), 35, 52, 56, 99, 114, 160 Ansab, See Genealogy
INDEX
499
Ansar, 213, 215, 230, 231. See Companions
Antiocn, 421
Antiochus, 21
Anthropomorphism, 310, 311, 3'4. 315-316, 435
Anusha-zadh, 136, 1 68, 181
Anushirwan. See Nushirwan
Anwari (Persian poet), 389, 437
Anwar-i-Siihavli, 341
Aogemadaeca* 102
Aoj- (root), 27
Apocrypha of Daniel, 479, 480
Apollodorus, 21
-•Aqaba (in Surra-man-ra'a), 329
Arab heathenism (= Jahi- liyyat, qv.\ 186-194, 212, 231, 261. 274
Arabian Nights, 254, 277
Arabian Science, 204
Arabic character, 9, 10, 82 ; Spanish in — , 9
Arabic language the vehicle of Muslim Science till Mongol Invasion, 340, 377 ; — ill Persia, and Arabic literature produced by Persians, 3, 4, 211, 278, 348, 365, 445-447, 474-477 : — preserved in siyaq notation in Persia, 67 ; importance of — for study of Persian, 89, 90 ; elements of — in Persian, 73 ; study of — in Europe, 39-41 ; — reduced to writing by command of Jamshid, 80 ; translations into — from Pah!a\vi, 76, no, 1 18, 123; — written in Syriac character (Kar- shuni), 8, 9
Arabic script, 10, 82
Arabs, character of — , 189- 194, 252, 404, 472 ; — men- tioned in Behistun Inscrip- tion, 94 ; — learn their power, 184 ; influence of — on Persia, 6, 36, 37, 66 ; antipathy between — and Persians, 114, 130, 242, 327, 331-332, 334; pride of — , 213, 229 ; decline of zeal and power of — , 244, 251- 252, 342, 345 ; minor refer- ences, 4, 63, 173, 174, 181, 357, 369 388. See also Conquest, Arab — , Racial feeling. Subject races, Shti'ubiyya, Hawaii
IbnuVArabi, Shaykh Muh- yiyyu'd-Din — (Sufi), 419, 420, 438
Ibnu'l-A'rabi (grammarian), 278
Arachosia, 35, 94
Aralcadris. 31
Aramaic, 36, 37, 66, 73, 74, 75, 77. 80, 81, 89. See also Chaldaan, Syriac
Araxes, River — , 25, 35
Arbil. 33
Arbitration of Dawmatu'l-
Jandal, 219, 221 Archelaus. Acts of — , 155 Arcs of Ascent and Descent,
441
Ardabil, 324, 325 Ardashir-i-Babakan (founder
of Snsnnian Dynasty), 9, 58,
70, 97, 103, 108, 112, 117, 119-
120. 121, 122, 136-151, 153,
158. See also Artakhshatr-
i-Papakano Ardashir III (Sasanian), 174,
182
Ardashir, Dastur — , 47 Arda Viraf, Book of—, 43, 96,
106, 118. 157 Ardawan, 136, 137-139, 140-
M5, 154 *'Arib. b. Sa'd of Cordova
(historian), 360, 362, 363,
428, 430, 432, 434 Anes, Sign of — , 1 14, 259 'Arif (" Gnostic "), 424 'Arifu'z-Eanadiqa, 159 Aristotle (Aristu, Aristatalis),
39, 40, 119, 277, 286, 293,
305, 38l
Aristotelians, Arabian — , 289 Ariyaramna (Achasmenian),
63. 92 Arjasp, 460
Armegand of Montpellier, 40 Armenians, 8, 41, 94, 127, 201,
313
•Arnold, Sir Edwin — , 442 *Arnold, T. W. — , 202, 206,
2O7, 212, 448
Arphaxad (Arfakhshad), 114
Arrajan, 324, 364
Arrows, shooting of — to
determine site, 152, 153 Arshama (Achaemenian), 63,
92, 93
'Arsh (Throne of God), 427 Artabanus. See Ardawan Artai (wind), 143 Artakhshatr-i-Papakano, 70,
71, 93, 106, 108, 117, 122, 136-151, 153
Artaxerxes Longimanus, 117 Artaxerxes Mnemon, 20, 120 " Aryan genius," 301 Aryans (Ariya, Airiya), 4, 29,
33, 56, 80, 90, 04, 114, 419 Aryat (Abyssinian general),
175, 176 Arzhang (Artang) of Man!
(Manes), 166
Abu'l-'As b. Umayya, 215 Asad (tribe), 370 Asad b. 'Abdu'llah (Governor
of Khurasan), 207, 352 Asad-'Amid, 460 Asad b. Musa b. Ibrahim,
274
Asadi (poet), 437 ; (lexico- grapher), 86, 450, 457, 474,
478
Ibn 'Asakir, 264 'AsaM-dukhta ("sewn honey,"
the yellow garments worn
by the Guebres), 343 Asas (term of Isma'ilis), 409,
4'3
Ascetics (Zuhhad), 298 Ashab. See Companions. Ash'ari, Abu Musa — , 219 ;
Abu'l-Hasan — , 212, 283,
285, 286, 291-292, 352, 364,
366 Ashemaogha (heretic), Maz-
dak so styled, 169, 171 Ashghaniyan, Ashkaniyan,
in, 118, 158. See also
Parthians. Ibnu'l-Ashtar (General of
-Mukhtar), 238 'Askar Mukrani (place), 396 -Asma'i (philologist), 277, 350,
357 Asman (27th day of month),
146 Asp - i - nawbati (" sentry
horse"), 317 "Ass," Marwan II so called.
See Marwan II Assassins, 54, 172, 311, 392,
395, 396, 408, 424 Assyrians, 20, 21, 23,. 36, 37,
55, <>5, 66, 67. 74, 75, 81, 89,
90, 94, 109, 305, 306 Astarabad, 448 Astronomy, 289, 304 . Astyages, 21 Asm a (demon) in Sanskrit =»
Ahura (God) in Avcsta, 34 'Ata (name of -Ituqantia',
q.v.), 320 Abu'l-'Atahiya (poet), 276, 277,
370 'Ata -Ghazzal (father of
Wasil), 281
A'tham -Kufi (historian), 363 *-Atharu'l-baqiya (of -Biruni.
q.v.), 154, 469 *Atharu'l-bilad (of-Qazwini),
15, 157. 257, 319, 324 Athenaeus, 121 Athenians, 94 -Athim (= Pers. Baza-gar,
"the Sinner"), 135. See
Yazdigird I. *Ibnu'l-Athir (historian), 169,
321-323, 360
Athravan (Fire-priest), 31 Atropatene, 19, 25, 28, 29, 30,
36, 78. See also Aza rbayia n *'Attar, Shaykh Faridu'd-Din
— (poet and mystic), 294,
299, 361, 362, 389, 4«6, 424-
428, 436, 437, 444 Augustine, St. — , 155 Averroes (Ibn Rushd), 40,
288-289, 204, 381 Avesta, 4, 22-31, 34, 37, 42-
44, 60, 53, 86-59, 63, 07-
70, 88, 91, 95-102, 105, 108,
Ill-Ill, 116, 120, 143, 169,
206, 801 ; — meaning ot
term, 78 ; — identified with
Abraham's Revealed Book
(Suhuf), H3
5oo
INDEX
Avestic language (so-called ",Zend " or " Old Bactrian "), 27, 39, 43, 44- 60, 62, 67, 78, 81,89
Avicenna (Ibn Sina), 40, 288, 289, 293, 368, 372, 375- 38i, 470
*'Awfi, Muhammad — (author of Lubabu'l-Albab and Jawami'u'l-hikayat), 13, 15, 262, 283, 340, 449, 450, 452- 455, 462, 463, 466, 468, 470 471
Awhadu'd-Din Kirmani(poet), 420
Abu 'Awn, 245
'Ayn b. 'Ayn b. 'Ayn, 241
'Aynu'l-Kamal . See Evil Eye.
Aywan - i - Kisra (Palace of Chosroes), 258
Ayyam ("days," »'.«., notable battles, of the Arabs), 270, 388
Abu Ayyub-Muriyani, 258
Az (in Talish dialect = azem, " I " in Avestic), 27
Azarbayjan (Adharbadhagan), 19. 28, 35, 78, 79. 313, 325, 448. See Atropalene.
Azhi-Dahaka, 114. SeeDahak.
-Azraqi (historian of Mecca),
345
-'Aziz, Abu Mansur Nazar (Fatimid Caliph), 373
B
Babak (Papak), the father of
Ardashir Babakan (q.v.),
122, 137-142 Babak (heresiarch), 247, 311,
323-831, 334, 336 *Baba Tahir (dialect poet),
26, 27, 83 Ibn Babawayh(Shi'ite divine),
375
-Babbagha (poet), 370 Babis, 86, 98, 99, 100, 101, 130,
165, 170, 172, 311, 312, 407,
410, 415, 423 Babylon, Babylonia, 21, 04,
128, 154, 158, 163, 164, 282,
3°i, 3°5, 3°6, 357 Bacon, Roger — , 40 Bactria, 4, 25, 28 — 31, 34, 35,
78, 94, 95
-Bada (heretical tenet), 311 Badaraya, 158 Badghis, 309, 317, 346, 452 Badhan (Persian satrap of
-Yaman), 181, 183 -Badhdh, Mountain of — , 325,
326 Badi', Abu Muhammad — of
Balkh, 467 Badi'u'z-Zaman -Hnmadhani,
463, 464
Badr, Battle of — , 216 Bagayadish (Old Persian
month), 32
Baghdad, 6. 163, 164, 197-
198, 209, 210, 254, 258, 259,
274, 286, 289, 292, 293, 295,
306, 307, 316, 317, 329, 339-
342> 346, 353.- 356, 358-361,
364, 367, 377, 398, 4°2. 434-
446, 465, 466, 474 Baehir (Turkish general), 342 Baharistan (of Jami), 417,
425. 456 Baha'u'llah, 311 Bahlabad (minstrel of Khus-
raw Parwiz). See Barbad Bahman, 97, 117, 118, 137, 142.
See also Vohumano Bahman Yasht, 169 Bahram I. (Sasanian), 154,
157-159, 163
Bahram II. (Sasanian), 154 Bahram V. (Sasanian), called
"Gur," "the Wild Ass," 12,
262, 364 Bahram Chubin, 109, 129, 181,
267, 352
Bahrayn, 201, 344, 402 Balahbad. See Barbad Bakan Yasht, 98 -Bakharzi, -Husayn b. 'AH
(biographer of poets), 358,
448
Bakhtiyari dialect, 87 Bako Yasht, 97 Abu Bakr (Caliph), 194, 195,
205, 209, 210, 214, 217, 330.
343, 391, 437 -Bakuratu's - Sulaymantyya,
203 Bakusaya (in Babylonia),
158 Ba'labakk (Baalbeck), 278,
3ofi -Baladhuri (historian), no,
152, 197, 199, 201, 202, 203,
203, 281, 263. 268, 323, 337 -Balaghatu's-sab'a (Isma'ili
book), 401 -Bal'ami, Abu'1-Fadl — , 356 ;
Abu 'Ali — (son of the
preceding), II, no, 356,
368-369, 455, 478 Balfour of Burleigh, 221 Balkatagin b. Alptagin, 372 Balkh, 4, 35, 36, 163, 207, 244,
252. 257, 315, 347, 348, 354,
425. See also Bactria -Balkhi, Abu Zayd — (geo- grapher), 315, 368, 372 Ballad poetry, 16, 17, 18 Baluchistan, 4, 83 Bamdadh (father of Mazdak,
q.v.), 169 Bang, W. — , 64 Banu'l-Ahrar (Persian settlers
in -Yaman), 181, 262 Barbad (minstrel and poet of
Khusraw Parwiz), 14-18 Barbier de Meynard, 132, 365,
368,447
Bardesanes, 160 Bardesanians, 382, 387, 415 Bardiya (Smerdes), 31, 32 Barfaryad, 162
Bar Hebraeus (Abul-Faraj),
322, 323
Barmak (ancestor of Barme- cides, q.v.), 257, 258 Barmecides, 164, 252, 254, 257,
258, 276, 342 Barsom, 52
Barthelemy, Paul de St. — . 59 Barthelemy, 107 Bartholonue, 64 Barton, Dr. — (of Oxford), 50 Barzaentes (satrap of Darius),
9i
Bas-faruj = Abu Sufra, 263 Bashshar b. Burd (poet and
sceptic), 267, 276 BacriXtioi SiQOtpat, 122 BuaiXtKci ctTrofivrifiovtv-
Hara, 122 Basra, 184, 216, 219, 223, 245,
263, 270, 289, 296, 302, 349,
35.8, 359, 378, 383, 396, 402 Batinis, 311, 407, 414, 422.
See Isma'ilis, Carmathians,
Sect of the Seven, &c. -Battani, Muhammad b. Jabir
b. Sinan (Albategnius), 363 Baur, 155, 191
Bayabak (Turkish officer), 342 Bayan (of Babis), 101 Bayazid of Bistam (Sufi), 352,
426-428 Bayda (= Dizh-i-sapid, "the
White Castle," in Fars), 434 Bayhaq, 355 Bayhaqi (historian of Ghaz-
nawi Dynasty), 331 -Bayhaqi (author of Kitabu'l-
Mahasin, q.v.), 15, 18 Baynun (castle in -Yaman),
175
Baysunghar, 122 Baytu'l - Hikma (" House of
Wisdom" of the Caliph
-Ma'mun), 306 Baza -gar (= -Athim, "the
Sinner," a term applied to
Yazdigird I, q.v.), 135, 166 Bazanes (Bishop), 172 Beatific Vision, 285, 287, 361 Beausobre, 155 Bedouin, 271. See Arabs. Beer, 64 Behbehan, 87 Behistun (Bagastana, Bi-si-
tun), 5, 31, 63, 66, 70, 78, 92,
93
Bel, 10
Benfey, Prof. — , 9, 68 Berbers, 397 Beresine, 27, 83 Berlin Library, 262, 449, 452,
464
Bermann, 153 Berosus, 21
Bessus (satrap of Darius), 91 Bevan, Prof. A. A. — , 159,
160, 165 Bibi Shahrbanu. See Shahr-
banu Bible, 37
INDEX
Bibliotheque du Roi, — Nationale (Paris), 45, 67,
374. 479 Bigthan, 20 Bih-afaridh (Persian heresi-
arcb), 308-310, 323 Bihishti (title of apocryphal
king), 480
Bihzad (father of -Sirafi), 372 Bilal-abadh, 324, 325 Bilqis (Queen of Sheba), 175,
3»5
Bindu'e (uncle of Khusraw Parwiz), 18 1
Biographies of Persian Poets. See -Andakhudi. 'Awfi, -Bakharzi, ChaharMaqala, Dawlatshah, -Tha'alibi, Tabaqat, Tadhkira, Yati- matu'd-Dahr
Birku'l-Iumad, 272
•-Biruni, Abu Rayhan (his- torian and astronomer), 110, 123, 136, 154, 155. 188- 139, 160, 247, 2S9, 268, 270. 80S 309, ^, 318 319, 3SA 359, 371, 419, 469, 475
Bishr (disciple of Htisayn b. Mansttr -Hallaj, q.v.), 431
Bishr b. -Hr.rith, 424
Bi-situn, 5. See also Behis- tun, Old Persian Inscrip- tions
Bismi'llah, Analogy between — and Ahuna vairya formula, 98
Bisra (meat) read as "gusht" in Pahlawi, 66, 76
Bistam (uncle of Khusraw Parwiz), 181
Bistam (town in Persia), 427
Bit Dayaukku, 21
Biward (Abiward), 242
Black, J. Sutherland — , 347
Black, colour of 'Abbasids, 242, 243, 244, 310
Black Stone, 359, 367, 403, 404
Bland, Nathaniel — , 13, 449,
4Si
Blochmann, 389, 473 Blowing on knots as magic
rite, 366 Bodleian Library, 41, 42, 44,
Bogha ("the Bull," Turkish
name), 342 Bokht ("hath delivered") in
Persian names, 145-146 Bokht Yishu' (physician), 146,
344. 345. 367
Bollensen, 64
Bologna 40
Bombay, 48, 103, 206
Book of Origins (Ghayalu'l- •uiasa'il ila marifati'l- awail), 3Sf', 455
Book of Nabathcean Agricul- ture, 357
Bopp, 68
Boswell Smith, 188
Bourchier (Bowcher), G. — , 44
Bovffat, 23-24
Brahmins, 56
Brandt, Dr. A. J. H. W. — ,
302
Brethren of Purity." See
Ikhwanu's-Safa Brisson, Barnaby de — , 42 British Museum Library, 374,
448, 457, 473 *Brockelmann, Carl — , 253,
267, 268, 273, 274, 276, 277,
278. 305-308, 343, 357, 388,
373-374, 375, 378, 383 Briinnow, 212, 220, 221, 222,
232 Buddha, Buddhism, 103, 154,
162, 163, 300, 301, 442 Bugha (or Boglia, qv.), 336,
342
-Buhturi (poet), 357 Bukhara, 16, 17, 35, 322, 365-
366, 368, 468, 475 -Bukhari (traditionist), 351,
357
Bundahishn, 48, 96, 105 Bundar (or Pindar) of Ray,
85,86 -Bundari (historian of Sel-
juqs), 43, 115, 464 Burjak and Burjatur, 146, 147 Burjin-Mihr (Sacred Fire),
139
Burnouf, Eugene — , 63, 67, 68 Burns, Baba Tahir compared
to — , 83
Buruna (suburb of Herat), 17 Bushanj, 244 Bushaq (Abu Ishaq, poet, of
Shiraz), 85
Bushkast (grammarian), 262 Bust (town), 378, 448 Bustan of Sa'di, 145, 341, 423 Buwayb, Battle of — , 6 Buwayhid Dynasty, 6, 12,
292, 360, 364-365, 367, 37o,
372, 374, 375, 376, 398, 446,
453, 465, 466, 474 Buzurg b. Shahriyar (Persian
sea-captain), 368 Byron, 107 Byzantines, 127, 151, 167, 168,
174, 179, 181, 182, 185, 206,
224, 302, 305
Cadmus, 51
Cain, 162
Cairo. 295, 367, 399, 4°°
Calendar, Zoroastrian — com- pared with Babi — , loo-ioi
Caliphate, Caliph (Khilafat, Khalifa), 209, et seqq. See Orthodox Caliphs, Umay- yads, 'Abbasids, Fatimids
Calligraphy prized by Mani- chaeans, 165, 362 ; — by Husayn b. Mansur-Hallaj, 362, 431
Calvinism, Effects of — , 286. See Predestination.
Cambridge, 41, 183, 356, 446,
449, 464, 477 Cambyses (Kambujiya). 31,
32, 55, 92
Camel, Battle of the — , ZI7 Camphor mistaken for Salt,
'99
Cappadocia, 94 Caracalla, Emperor — , 304 Carmathians (Qarmati, pi.
Qaramita), 212, 311, 319,
339, 350, 352, 354, 356, 358-
359, 362, 367, 368, 371, 391-
415, 423, 434 ; etymology of
title, 397. See also Fatimid
Caliplis, Ghulat, Isma'ilis,
Sect o( the Seven, Shi'ites Carra de Vaux, 356, 368 Carrhze (Harran, q.v.), 302 Cashmere, 54 Caspian Sea, 203, 207, 348,
364,367
Caste - systeni amongst an- cient Persians, 114 Cathares. See KaOapoi, Air
bigenses Catholics, 168 Cayumers (properly Gayu-
marth), 55, 56 " Celestial " as royal epithet
in Sasanian limes, 153 Celtic genius, 447 Chaghani dynasty, 453, 462,
467, 47i Chahar - bokht (" the Four
have delivered," Persian
name), 146 *Chahar-Maqala, 15, 317, 348,
355, 359, 396, 449, 456, 460,
470 Chaishpish (Teispes) theAch-
amenian, 63, 92 Chakhra (place mentioned in
Vendidad), 35 Chaldaea (Sawad), 132, 205,
302, 382, 397 Chaldaean language, 40, 44, 56,
58, 70 (Chaldaean-Pahlawi),
73, 89, 128, 479 Changiz Khan, 6, 286. See
also Mongol Invasion. Charas of Mitylene, 121 Chardin, 42, 57, 59 Charles VI., 153 Chatrang-namak (" Book of
Chess"), 109 Chauvin, Victor — , 211. See
under Dozy. Chess, 109, no Chetak (chedak), 153 China, 48, 85, 421 ; — and Mani-
ch.ranism, 159, 164 ; — and
Balkh, 258 ; visited by Bih-
afarid, 308 Chinese language, 60, 65, 80 ; —
paper, 431 ;— painting, 454 de Chinon, Gabriel — , 43 Chinvat Bridge, 106 Chithratakhma (rebel against
Darius), 33 Chosroes (Khusraw, Kisra),
137, 128
502
INDEX
|
Christ See ?«*$ ( |
Constantinople libraries. 383 |
Daqtqi (Persian poet). 123, |
|
Christians under SacinUn |
Continuity of National His- |
37*. 453. 456. U9-U3 |
|
rule, 106, 134, 135 |
tory. 89 |
Dara. 117. 118, 119, 139, 140. |
|
168 ; despised by |
Conversions to Islam, how |
461 |
|
wan. 136. 181 ; — Salman the |
effrcted. 202, 203, 207 |
Darab. Dastur — . 47. 58 |
|
Persian joins the — , 201 ; — |
Converts to Islam, 207, 233- |
Abu'd-Darda (traditioOMtX |
|
of Najran, 175 :— • |
235. 246, 252, 352, 367 |
272 |
|
sinia. 175; — under eatly |
Coppersmith. See Saffarid |
Dari( Deri) dialect, 26 |
|
Muhamniadan rulers, 200. |
Dynasty. Ya'qub b. Laytk. |
Darius. 5. 31. 32, 33, 61-64. 7*. |
|
201, 232, 234, 280 ; — under |
'Am* b. Laytk |
79,91-94.96. no, 121 |
|
-Mutawakkii, 290. .; |
'• *4^- 279, 366, 398 |
Dannesteter, Professor James |
|
—under Fat. mid Cahphs, |
— . I«. 22, 24-26. 28, 29. 31. |
|
|
399-400; — native — in In- |
rtcillc, Pavel — , 368 |
33. 50. 57-59. 68-70. 78. 81. |
|
dia. 264-265 ; — Syrian — |
.:iters, Scottish — , 37, |
95-97. »4«. 14^. 161. 167, 255. |
|
and heathens, 304 : Chris- |
221 |
348. 479. 480 |
|
tian names in -<v |
Cow, Chanter of the — |
Dasatir (Desatir), 53, 56 |
|
— and Muhammadan stun |
(Suratu'l-oaqara), 191 |
D.isiobar (Dastur), 9, 47, 58. |
|
dards,lS8 \-malakini (Apo- |
Cowell, Professor — , 94. 457 |
See also Zoroattrian I'rmli |
|
cryphal Books), 241 ;— scho- |
Crawford and Balcarres, Lord |
Datik (legal port |
|
lars in Islam, 278. 306, 345. 351. 366 ;— influeiu • |
— , 262. 440. 45* Creasv. Sir Edward — , 209 |
A\f~Li). 07 • i-t)intk, 10^ |
|
bammadan Theology, 188, |
Cross, Wood oi the True — . |
Da'ud b. 'All -Dhahifi (theulo- |
|
311, 426; — child addressed |
182 |
Hian). 357 |
|
in verse, 454 ; minor refer- |
de la Croix. Petit* — , 42 |
Daud b. -All b. KhaUf |
|
ences, 170, 172, 173, 261, 274, |
Crusades, 480 |
-Isfahani (jurist). 386 |
|
*93. 303. 382. 384 |
Ctesiss. 20, 21, 23, 91, 120 |
Daud -Tai (Sufi). 298, 418, |
|
ians of St. John the |
Ctesiphon, 132, 136, 182, 183, |
4*4 |
|
U.iptist." 302 See Mnndct- |
17). 222, 313. 324 |
" Daughter of Desire " |
|
ant. UuRhtastla. Sabcrans |
Cuneiform, Persian — . 7, 43. |
(lbnatut~Hin) in Manl- |
|
Christianity, 154, 162, 180, 203, |
44, 56. 59-65, 67. 78, 80. K>. |
ch.cau system, 162 |
|
300, 301, 305 ; — as under- |
01-95 See also Old Penian |
David, 113. 440 |
|
stood by Sufis, 443 |
lanfuagf |
Da'wa (Propaganda) of |
|
Chronology falsified, 119, 120 |
Cureton. 169. St-e -Shahris- |
'Abbasids. 236. 238-247. |
|
*CtironolMy of Ancient \a |
l,ini. KiUtnil-Milal |
410 ; — of IsniallK 395 ; |
|
/ions (-Biruni's -Athantl- baqiva, q.v., translated by |
Curzou, Lord — , 151 Cyaxares (Huvakhshatara), |
Organisation oi — . 240 Dawidar ("Keeper ol the |
|
Sactiau). 154 |
•It S3 |
Seals"). 197 |
|
Churchill, Sidney — , 283 |
Cvrofvrdia, 91 |
Dawlatshah. 12. 14, 15. 16. |
|
Chwolson, 303, 304 |
Cyrus, 5, 22, 31, 32, 55. 60, 91. |
346. 347 ; Source-- |
|
Cikathauvatish (fortress in Media), 32 |
92,95,96, 113, 121 |
447. 449. 45"- 47O. 473 Dawmatu'l-Jaudal. Arbitra- |
|
Circumcision, 333, 335 |
tion of — , 219, 291 |
|
|
-Citia o) Iran," (Pahlawi |
D |
Dayaukku (Ai/icNO/f), 21 |
|
book), 109 |
Daylam, 203. 207. 27*1. 313. |
|
|
Classics, 37 "Clients.* See Hawaii |
Dabil (Armenian prince), 201 Pakistan. 54-5^1. 270 |
364. 44^ 463- See al*o Buwayhidt |
|
Clement V., Pope — , 40 Cobbe. Richard — , 44 Coinage, Arabic — first used, |
Uaeva* (devo». 25. 34, 160 luli.ik (Azliil.ih.ik.;. Zohak), 114-115. 150 |
Dd-od,i6o Deioccs, 21 Democracy of Arabs, 130 |
|
230 Coins, Pahlawi — , 8, 71 College de France. 40, 41 Colourlessness, World of — , |
D.i'i (pi. du'at, propagandist). 236, 240, 247. 310. 314, 395- 307. 402, 407. 409. 410. 411- 4 1 5. 434. See also Mu Ira |
Demons, 112, 114. See Daerat. (ind. linn Dervishes. 300 ; " Dancing" — |
|
440.441 |
The Good — (river, |
•n flf Pkilototimt |
|
•column of Praise" of Mani |
identified with Araxcs), 25, |
(CahaMul -Falaiija) of |
|
ch.rans, 161 |
M |
-Ghauali. 289 |
|
"Conmnnderof the I'nfaith- |
D a k h m a (" Tower of |
I ><•.:! tcniptv Dahak. 115: |
|
itil," -Ma niun so called, 307 |
flOwce"), 48 |
verses ascribed to — , 14. |
|
Commentary, Old Penian — |
-. 266 |
See .ilv> l>af.-(ii, Ihmont |
|
(Cambridge Codex), 12. 477 |
Damascius (Nco-Platonist |
Devil -worshippers (Yatidis), |
|
Communism, 170. See tlat |
i 421 |
304 |
|
dak. |
Damascus, 210, 219, 224, 233, |
Devotees (-'itbbad), 298 |
|
"Companions" (Ashab), 228, |
245. 280. 282, 283. 342, 445, |
-Uhahabi (historian). 4tf |
|
231, 271. 298, 349 Conquest Arab — of Persia, |
480 Damawand, Mount — , 115 |
Dhahin>->-a (externalists ' ). *I2. 357. 42* |
|
3.4.6,8.30,90,109,114,130, '63. 173-174. 181, 185-208. |
1 Undan (Zaydan), 407 Daniel, Apocryfka of —, 479, |
Dhahir (Zahir) of Karyab. 389 -DhariA. Abu Nasr — (Sanu- |
|
212, 275: Greek — ol |
480 |
nid poet). 365 |
|
5 : see also Alexander the Great : Norman — of Eng- |
Daniel. Rook of — , 6l 1 >an>h war the, dihqan 1 22 |
Dhaquln Abu Dli. n 7. »88 |
|
land, • Constantino, Emperor — , 185 |
D.ipir (M.-ribe) 9 ; Dapirih (kccreUrUl art), 262 |
Dhu J i.l.iu (Himyaiitc poet), 175-176 |
INDEX
503
Dhu'l-lisanayn (bilingual poets), 453, 465
Dhu'n-Nun (Sufi), 298, 345, 357. 424
D!:u Nuwas (poet), 174-176
Dhu Oar, Battle of — , 6, 184, 186
Dhu'l-Qarnayn (" the Two- horned "), 119
Dhu r-Rumma (poet), 261
Dhu Shanatir (Himyarite King), 174
Phu'l- Yaminayn ("Ambi- dexter"), 346
Dialects, Persian — , 26, 27, 43- 83-87. 34S, 473, 479
Di'bil (poet), 345
Dieterici, 292, 293, 294, 364,
369. 379, 3»°, 381 Dieulafoy, 64 Dihistan, 448 Dih-khuda, 448 Dihqans, 150, 233, 246, 267,
329
Diki (digi) in Shapur's inscrip- tion, 153
Diku'1-Jinn (poet), 278, 345
Dilaram (mistress of Bahrain Gur), 12
Dinawar (town), 313
*-Dinawari (historian), 103, 109, 113, 114, 128, 136, 152, 169, 203, 229, 238, 237, 23S, 241, 242, 315, 317, 323, 328, 397
Dinkard (Pahlawi book), 97, 105, 157
Diogenes (Neo-Platonist phi- losopher), 421
Dirakht-i-Asitrig ('"Tree of Assyria ''), 109
Diraz-dast, 117, 137, 142. See Loiigimanus.
Div-band ("Binder of De- mons," title of the mythical Persian King Tahmurath), 80, 112
Divine Right, Theory of — in Persia, 128-130, 391
Diwans, Organisation of the — , 204-205
Diyar Bakr, 134
Dizh-i-sapid (= -Bayda, "the White Castle"), 434
Dorn, 83. 86, 314
Dove, Form of White — assumed, ^14
Dnzy's *i.^.un;sme (Chau- vin's transl.), 188-186, 190, 204, 211, 220, 224, 231, 231- K35, 252, 282, 283-2SS, 230, 201-232, 298, 239, 300, SIS- SIS: — Supplement, 342 ; — Hisioire des Mtistilntans de FEspagne, 394
" Dragon " (in mystical poem), 363
Drangiana, 94
Druj (demon), 160
Dru7.es, 393, 398, 400
Ibu Abi Du'ad(one of Afshin's judges), 331, 335, 336
Dualism, 157. 160, 186, 387, 414. See also Manicharanism
Du bayti. See Suba'i
Dubeux, 369
Dugat, 39, 41, 212
Dukha (diki, q.v.), 153
Abu Dulama (court jcster),276
Dutnyatu'l- Qasr (of -Bukh- ara), 448
Dunbawand(Damawand) 115
Dunckcr, 96
Ibn Abi'd-Dunya (author), 357
Ibn Durayd (philologist), 269, 366
-Duruzi (after whom are named the Dntzes, q.v.), 400
Dussaud. Rene — , 395
Duvitataranam, 92
Eagle in Persian legend, 121
Bcoatana (HagmaUina, Ha- madun), 19, 32, 78
Eckhart, 297, 421
Eclipses, 470
Ecolc des Langues Orientales Vivantes (Paris), 447
Edessa, 134
Edward (King of England), 33
Egypt, 71, 94, 209, 218, 220, 223, 224, 227, 234, 245, 263, 266, 272, 298, 339, 352, 367, 371, 395, 396, 397, 400, 401, 404
Egyptian hieroglyphics, 65 ; — version of Alexander- legend, 118
Eight Gates of Paradise, 412
Flburz Mountains, 35, 348
Elephant, People of the — (Ashabu'1-Fil), 178
Elephant, Year of the — , 173, 174, 178
Elliott, J. B. — , 13, 449, 452
Enicsa (Hims, ill Syria), 218, 396
Emmanuel College, Cam- bridge, 43
Emmett (Irish patriot), 346
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 10
Encyclopedists. See Ikh- wanit's Safa.
England, 4, 5, 37, 245, 301, 446, 479
English people, 50, 118 ; — and Irish. 346 : — and Scotch, 33 ; — in India, 264
English language, 4, 5
Enneads (of Plotinus), 420
Ephrem, Patriarch, 399
Epistles, Forms of — (Pahlawi book), 109
Epos, Persian — , 91, 110-123. See Sliah-iiama
Eran, 4. See Iran, Persia
Eran-vej, 25
Eran-shahr, 115
Erskine, 48, 54
Esar-Haddon, 20
Escoi ial, 272
Esoteric Doctrine. See Ba- tinis, Ta'limis, Ta'wil.
Esther, Book of — , 20
Ethe, Dr. H. — , 13, 301, 340, 349, ^416, 450, 452, 453, 456. 457, 459, 460, 462
Etymologies, Persian popular — , 270
Euagrius, 168
Eulalius (Neo Platonist philo- sopher), 421
Euphuism ('Hunt' l-Badayi'), 3^9
Europe, 185
Eusebius, 21
Eutychius (Sa'id b. -Batriq), 169, 366
Eve, 162
Evil Eye, 453
Evil, Mystery of — , 440, 441
Ezra, 6 1
Fa"al - i - Mutlaq (" Absolute
Agent," i.e., God), 419 Fadlu'llah -Hurufi, 423 Fadl b. Sahl, 255, 276, 284 Fadl b. Yahya (the Barme- cide), 257 Fadl (poetess of Yamama),
345, 351
Abu'1-FadI -Dal'ami, 356 Abu'1-Fadl -Sukkari, 476 Fahlabad (Pahlapat), 15. See
Barbad. Fahlaviyyat (Persian dialect
verses); 80, 85
*-Fakhri (historian), 183 189, 194-200, 204 205, 217, 219, 221-223, 220, 227-223, 230, 331, 235, 241, 242, 243, 252- 253, 256, 258, 314, 315, 316, 322-323 Fakhru'd-Dawla (Buwayhid),
374 -Faiiihi (historian of Mecca).
357 Falaku'd-Din Muhammad b.
Aydamir, 197 Fatodhaj (= Paludak), a kind
of porridge, 329 Fana h'llah (" Annihilation in
God'), 441, 443 Fana- (= Panah-) Khusraw,
44.8
Fani, Muhsin-i. — , 54 *Ibmi'l - Faqih -Hamadhani
(geographei), 14, 15, 358.
432 433
Faqirs, 438. See Dervishes -Farabi (philosopher) 40, 288,
SOS, 381 Abif 1-Faraj (Rarhebratus, q.v.),
322 Abu'l-Faraj -Isfahan! (author
of KiUbtt'l-Afliatii), 15, 371 Abu'l-Faraj (Harranian), 304 -Faralawi, Abu 'Abdi'llah Mu- hammad b. Musa — , 455 Farasu'n-nawba (" Sentry- horse"), 317
504
INDEX
Fargard (chapters of Vendi- dad, so named), 99
Farhang-i-Pahlavik (Pahlawi glossary), 109
Ibnu'l-Farid (mystic poet), 419. 438
Faridu'd-Din 'Attar, Shaykh — (Persian mystic and Poet). See 'Attar.
Farighuni Dynasty, 453
Farr-i-Kayani (" Royal Splen- dour"), 128, 143, 144
-Farra (grammarian), 277
Farrash ("carpet-spreader"),
354
Farrukh Hurmazd (Ispah- badh of Khurasan), 182
Farrukhi (Persian poet), 389, 460, 474
Farrukh-zad, 104
Farrukh-zadh-Khusraw (Sa- sanian King), 174
Fars (Parsa, Persis, q.v.), 4, 8, 19, 200, 360, 371, 432, 434, 448
Fasa (near Shiraz), 170
Abu'1-Fath -Busti, 371, 467
Abu'1-Fath Mahmud, 253, 371. See Ibn Kushajim
-Fatiha (opening chapter of -Quran), 98
Fatima (daughter of the Prophet and wife of 'Ali), 13°. 131, 132, 214. 224. 229, 239, 350, 392, 397, 39^, 399, 408
Fatima (daughter of Abu Muslim), 247, 328
Fatima of Nishapur, 434
Fatimi (= Ismn'ili, q.v.), 407
Fatimid Caliphs, 214, 339, 349, 352, 889, 367, 371, 373, 398, 396, 397, 398 (their pedigree discussed), 399, 400, 401. 402, 404, 409, 455. See also Carmaihians, Isma'ilis, Sect of the Seven
Fawkes, Guy — , 203
-Fayyum, 71, 104
Feridun, 115, 116, 268
Abu'1-Fida (historian), 169, 200
Fida'is (Assassins), 424
*Fihrist, 76, 109, no, 123, 155. 156. 157, 159, 163-164, 165, 247, 268, 278, 302, 308, 310, 312-313. 315. 323. 324, 327, 328, 332, 350, 362, 373, 374, 378, 383-387, 394. 39&, 401, 407, 416, 418, 420, 428- 429
Finance department of early Caliphs modelled on Per- sian lines, 205
Fiorillo, 60
Abu Firas (poet), 370, 371, 446
*Firdawsi, 15, 79, 80, no, 111, 114, 118, 122, 123. 136, 138, 140-142, 143, 144-148, 146. 147-150, 169, 348, 372, 389, 437, 452, 456, 460. See also Sltaluiama
Fires, Sacred — , 139. See
also Adhar Gnsliasp. Frobag
or Fanibag Fire(Kharrad),
and Burjin-Mihr Fire-temples, 206 Fire-worshippers. See Gue-
bres, Zoroastrians Firuz-Daylami, 262 Firuz (son of Abu Muslim's
daughter Fatima), called
Kudak-i-datia ("the Wise
Child"), 328 Firuz -i-Mashriqi (Persian
poet). 355, 453 Firuz, Mulla — , 53 Fitzgerald, Lord Edward — ,
346 Five Principles of the
Isma'ilis, 408 Fleischer, 169. 453 Flower, Samuel — , 42, 59 Fliigel, 157, 159. 161, 163, 164,
292, 373, 378, 383 Forbes, Dr — , 472 Foy, 64
Francis V of France, 40 Frank, Hermann — , 417 Fravarlish (Phraortes), 21, 32 Frazer, 44 French East India Company,
45
Frobag Fire, 139 Fudayl b. 'lyad (or 'Ayyad),
298, 418. 424. 426 Fuqaym (Arab tribe), 176 Furat (general), 238 " Furs-i-qadim," 80 Fustat, 399 Fususu't-Hikam (by Shaykh
Muhyiyyu'd-Din b. al-
'Arabi), 420 Futtaq (Patecius), father of
Manes, 157 *Futiihu'l-Buldan. See -Ba-
ladhuri
Gabra (=mard), 74 Gabri dialect (Yazd and Kir- man), 43, 86, 109. See also
Di*tec6 Gabriel, Archangel — , 316,
4-7
Gahs (Zoroastrian), 5, 52 Galen (Jalinus). 305, 381 Gandara (country), 94 Ganneau. Charles — , 76 Garmapada (Old Persian
month). 33 Gasanik (liturgical portion of
Avcsta). 97 Gathas (Avesta), 28, 30, 78, 88,
95, 97 ; — (days added to
year), 100
Gaub- (Old Persian root), 27 Gaumata the Magian, 31, 32 Gava (the blacksmith), 115 Gayumarth (Gayo Mareta,
" Cayumers "), 55, 56, 112,
122
"Gazelle" (name given by
-Husayn to his wife tha
daughter of Yazdigird III),
131. 229 Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss.
25, 3i, 35, 57. 59, 63, r>8, 69.
83,88,96, 108, in, 138 Geitiin, Herr — , 472 Geldner, 57, 69, 95, 96, 97, 98,
99 Genealogy (Ansab), 267, 269,
270
Geography, 271 Gerard of Cremona, 40 Germans, 185, 301 ; — Mystics
of xiv cent., 297 Ghada'iri of Ray (Persian
poet), 437
Ghassan, 173, 174, 388 *Gkayatu'livasail ila tna'ri-
faii'l-awa'il, 455 Ghaylan the Qadari, 283 Ghazal form of poetry, 472,
474- 47<5 Ghazala ("Gazelle," q.v.), 131,
229
Ghazna, 448
Ghaznawi Dynasty, 341, 353,
36°, 371, 377, 467- 408, 4/2,
474 *-Ghazzali (Divine and Philo
sopher), 40, 289. 293-234,
362, 419, 422, 436, 437 -Ghulat (plural of Ghali : the
"extremists" of the Shi'a
party), 240, 279, 310-311,
328, 362, 386, 3S6 Ghumdan (castle), 176 Ghur, 376 ; Dynasty of — , 449 Gibb, E. J. W. — , 389, 390,
423, 444- 465 Gibbon's Decline and Fall,
154, 167, 168, 431 Gibraltar, 204 Gilaki dialect, 348 Gilan, 83, 86, 364, 368 Ginza (Book of the Man-
daeans), 302 Gladwin, 389 Glover (Persianized as Gul-
avar), 270 Gnosis, 424 Gnosticism, 96, 159, 161, 202,
432
Gobineau, 64, 130 God, Persian Kings regarded
as — , 128
Godef rey de Bouillon, 480 *de Goeje, Professor — , TO,
119, 270, 272, 276, 360, 3*7,
372. 373, 3'H, 396, 397. 39»,
399, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405,
407. 432, 434 *Goldziher, 190, 212, 260 263,
267-270, 272, 373, 336, 35a „ 357, 358
Gordian, Emperor — , 420, 421 Gospels. 113, 401 Goupil (commandant at Poa-
dichery), 46 Gozan, River — . ao Graf, 423
505
Grammarians. Early Arab — , 275-278. See also SibouviyA)
Gravesend, 49
Greece, Greeks, 4, 5, 8, 9, 20, 37, 39. 58. 61, 70, 79, 80, 91, 117, 127, 128, 129, 140, 167, 169, 261, 262, 266, 269, 271, 277, 284, 288, 292, 301, 304, 3°5. SO6- 325, 345. 363. 382, 426, 446, 472
Grotcfend, 59, 60, 62, 63, 70
Guebrcs (Gabrs), 27, 86. See Magians, Zoronslrians
Guftan ("to say"), 27
Guirgass, 169. See -Dittawari
Gujas:ak Abalish iiamak, 104, 107
Gujerati, 9
Gular, Castle — , 146
Gulisttin (of Sa'di), 341
Gulnar, 143
*Gnlshan-i~Raz (of Mahmud
Shabistari), 282, 444 vGunde-Shapur, 10, 158, 167. See also Junde-Shapur
Gurgan, 16, 35, 367, 458, 470
Gushasp, Adhar — (Sacred Fire), 139
Gushnaspdeh, 174
Gushtasp (Vishtaspa), 25, 28, 61, 95, 116, 118, 123, 142, 460 ; Shahnama-i- — (= Pahlawi Yaikar-i-Zariran), 108
Gushyar (astronomer), 368
Gutschmid, 96, 178
Guyard, Stanislas — , 54, 396, 399, 4°7. 4°8
H
H (Persian) = S (Sanskrit). 34
Ha (or baiti, the name given to the divisions of the Yasna), 99
Ha (= 5 = Bab), 100
Haarbrucker (translator of Shahristani, q.v), 169
Habib b. Maslarna -Fihri, 201, 272
Habor, 20
-Hadi ('Abbasid Caliph), 254, 259, 307, 317
Hadith (tradition of the Pro- phet), 80, 85, 225, 283, 285, 341. 361, 389, 428, 437,444
Hadramawt, 180
Haetumant, 35
*Hafidh (Hafiz, the poet), 80, 85, 225, 283, 285, 341, 361, 389, 428, 437, 444
Hafsa, 214, 343
Haftaii-bokht (Haftawad), 137. MS, 146
Haft Iqlim, 452
Hagmatana, 19, 78. See Ecbatana, Hawaiian
Ha'ar (in Bahrayn), 201, 354 ; " to carry dates to — " ( = " to carry coals to New- castle"), 456
Haji-abad, Shapur's inscrip- tion at—, 93, 151-153 Hajjaj b. Yusuf, 205, 206, 230,
234, 283
Hajji Baba (by Morier), 423 Hakam b. AbiVAs b.
Umayya, 215 Hakhamanish (Achscmenes),
63. 92 Hakim.itu'd - Dahr ("the
World-Wise"), 162 -Hakim bi-amri'llah (Fatimid
Caliph and Deity of Druze
scot), 398-400 Halah, 20 Halani-stones, 267 Halevy, 29, 64 -Hallaj, Husayn b. Mansur
(Suli heretic), 361, 433. See
Husayn b. Mansur Ham (sou of Noah), 116 Hamadan. 19, 20, 22, 78, 79,
83 (dialect), 158, 313. See
also Efbatana, Hagtnatana -Hamadhaui (geographer), 14,
15, 432. 433 -Hamadhani, Badi'u'z-Zaman
— (author of Afaqamaf).
463-464
Hamasa, 278. 447 Hiiiiia-atu'iHi-Dlinrafa, 454 Hamdan, House of — , 446 Hamdan b. -Ash'ath-Qarmat,
396, 397, 401, 408, 410. See
Carmathians Hamdu'llah Mustawfi -Qaz-
wini (Persian historian and
geographer), 15, 27, 80, 85 Hamdun b. Isma'il, 336 Hamid (wazir of -Muq-
tadir), 430-432 Hammad (father of Manes),
155 Hammad b. Sabur -Rawiya
(editor of Mu'allatjaf), 276 von Hammer, 369, 407 Hamra (minister of -Hakim
bi-amri'llah), 400 Hamza of Isfahan (historian).
H6, 123. 109, 269"
Abu Hamza (Kharijite rebel),
263 Hanafi sect or school, 276,
294. 295
-Hanafiyya (wife of 'Ali), 214 Ibnu'l-Hanafiyya (son of
above), 214, 228, 229, 239,
392 Ibn Hanbal (founder of Han-
balite school), 273, 284, 291,
295, 344, 345, 381 Hanbali sect or school, 294,
295. 36 r, 364
+ Handhala of Badghis (Per- sian poet), 346, 355, 452
Abu Hanifa-Nu'nian(founder of Hanafi sect, 276. 280, 294-299,386
Hapta - Hendu ("Seven Rivers "), 35
Haralnvaiti (Arachosia), 35
Haraiva (Herat), 94
Harar (daughter of Yardigird
III), 229. Scc"GazelU* Harb b. Umayya, 215 -Hariri (author of Maqatnal),
464 -Harith b. 'Abdu'llah -Ja'di
(poet), 242 de Harlez, 22, 28, 68 Haroyu (Herat), 35 Harpers, 16, 17, 18 Harran (Carrh*), 302-306,
35*. 372, 387 -Harthami, Abu Nasr —
(Samanid poet). 365 Harun b. 'Isa b. -Mansur. ^i Harun -Rashid ('Abbasid
Caliph), 13, 163, 168, 210,
252-254, 259, 276, 277, 305,
3°7, 317 Harura, 222 -Hasan b. 'Ali (second Imam
of the Shi'a), 132, 133, 214,
224, 228, 229, 392, 409 -Hasan b. 'Ali -Utrush (Say-
yid of Tabaristan), 207, 359' -Hasan -Basri, 272, 281, 298
299. 432 Hasan -Sabbah (founder of
Assassins), 408 -Hasan b. Sahl (father-in-law
of -Ma'mun), 255 -Hasan b. Zayd (called Jali-
bu'l-liijara, Sayyid of
Tabaristan), 348' Abu'l-Hasau -Ash'ari, 283.
See -Ash'ari Abu'l - Hasan Muhammad
(grandson of Simjur), 466 Abu'l-Hasan -Musawi, 365 Hashim, 214, 239 Hashim, b. Hakim, 318. See
-Muqanna'
Abu Hashim the Sufi, 298, 417 Abu Hashim (son of Ibnu'l- Hanafiyya). 239 Hashimi(Hashimite), 213,214,
216, 218, 221, 246, 431 Hashimiyya (sect), 239 Hashimiyya (town), 316 Hashishi (Assassin), 408 Hashwiyya (sect), 386 Hastings, Battle of — , 95 Hatak Mansarik (philoso- phical portion of Avesta),
97. 108
Hatim-Ta'i, 265 Abu Hatim -Sijistani, 350 Hatokht-nosk, 97, 102 Haug, Dr. Martin — , 57, 59,
68, 70, 72, 73, 74. 77, 81, 103,
109, 151, 152, 153, 157 Haumavarka, 94 Ibn Hawqal (geographer), 37» Haydar (= A/shin, q.v.), 334 Haydara (disciple of -Hallaj),
43i, 435
-Haythani b. Mu'awiya, 316 Hayyan the druggist('Abbasid
propagandist), 236. 239 Ibn Hazm, 279 Hebrew character, 9, 37, 103,
479
506
INDEX
Hebrew. language. 40, 41, 42,
479
Hellenism, Influence on Per- sia of — . 6 Hellenopolis ('EXAiji/ojro-
*'f), 304
Helmand River, 35 Henry III of France, 41 Herat, 16, 35, 94, 123, 242, 244,
317, 347, 355 Herbads (order of Zoroastrian
priesls), 309 Herodotus, 20, 21, 23, 26, 33,
78. 91. 92 Hezekiah, 66 Hieroglyphics, 65 -Hijaz, 184, 196, 243, 272, 314,
448 Hikniatul-Ishraq (by -Suhra-
wardi), 423 Himalayas, 185 Hims (Einesa), 218, 396 -Himyari, -Sayyid — , 276 Himyarites, 175, 178, 179, 181,
271
Hindus, 34, 114 Hippocrates, 305 Hira, 174, 179, 262, 264, 306,
388 Hisham (Umayyad Caliph),
164, 240, 24.:;, 266, 283 Hisham b. -Kalbi (historian),
275. 277 *Ihn Hisham (biographer of
Piophet), 128-129, 188-188,
jg3, 203, 262, 269, 272, 276,
277 Historical science. Origin of
— amongst Arabs, 270-273 Hitzig, 64
Hoffmann, Georg — , 134
Homes, H. A. — , 293
Horn, Dr. Paul—, 86, 340, 450,
457- 459, 474
Hoshang, Dastur — ,109 Hoshea, 20 Houris, 107 Houtsma, 169, 464 Houtum-Schmdler, 83, 206,
207 Huart, Clement — , 26, 27,
83
Hubaysh, 306 Hiibschmann, 64 Hud ! prophet), 387 Hudhayl (Arab tribe), 192,
193 ; "Diwan of — , 357 Hughes, Dictionary of Islam,
427. 444 Hujjat (" Proof," a title used
by Isma'ilis), 409, 410, 414 Huijat-i-Khurasan (title of
Hasir-i-Klntsraw, q.v.). 399 Hulagu Khan (Mongol), 6, 209,
210, 286 Hulul (Incarnation, q.v.), 279,
310-311, 328
Huma (mythical bird), 121 Humay (or Khumani), Queen
— U7
Humayma (place in Syria),
236, 243
Hunayn b. Ishaq of Hira,
306, 351, 356 Hunt. Dr. — (of Oxford), 50,
51
Abu Hurayra, 272 Hurmazd(Hurmuzd,Hurmuz,
Hurmizd), name of the
Planet Jupiter, 461 Hurmazd I, 138, 154, 157, 158,
161
Hurmazd IV, 174, 181 Hurmazd V, 174 Hurmuzan, 215, 266 Hurufi, Sect, 26, 43, 86, 405,
423 -Husayn b. 'AH (third Imam),
130-133, SH, 224, 228-228,
229, 239, 230, 322, 3*3, 392,
393. 409 -Husayn b. Mansur -Hallaj,
361-363, 367, 423, 428-437 Abu'l-Husayn-Basri (Mu'tazi-
lite), 289
Abu'l-Husayn b. Paris (philo- logist). 269 Abti'l - Husnyn -Mu'ayyad
bi'llah, Sayyid — , 348 Hushang (legendary King of
Persia), 54. 112, Hushangji, Dastur — , 81 Husn-i-ta'lil (poetical aetio- logy-), 4^5
HHSt-aram-yasht, 98, 99 Hukht, Huvarsht, Humat
(" Good Words," " Good
Deeds," " Good Thoughts"),
165 Huvakhshatara (Cyaxares),
21, 33 Huzvaresh, 7, 68, 71, 73, 78,
77, 80, 81, 103 Hyde, Dr. — , 19, 41, 42, 43. 52,
59.6o Hyrcania (Vehrkana, Gurgan),
26,35 Hystaspes (Vishtaspa, Gush-
tasp), 61, 92, 95, 96, 121
la%Mfii (Yaksum, q.v., Abys- sinian King of Yaman), 178
Iblis, 320. See Devil.
Ibnatu'1-Hirs ("Daughter of Desire"). 162
Ibrahim (Patriarch). Sec Abraham.
Ibrahim (Umayyad Caliph), 215, 3i8
Ibrahim ('Abbasid Imam), 240, 242, 243, 254
Ibrahim-Mawsili (minstrel), 345
Ibrahim b. Adham (Sufi), 298, 418, 424, 425
Ibrahim b. Hilal -Sabi (his- torian), 372
Ibrahim b. -Mahdi ('Abbasid prince), 254
Ibrahim b. Sinan b. Thabit b. Qurra, 304, 367
Ibrahim -Sindi. 165
Ideograms. 65-67. See also Hitzvaresh
Idolatry, Sufi explanation of — , 443-444
-I]', 279
Ijma'u's-Sunnat, 391
Ikhshid, House of — , 397
Ikhwanu's-Safa (" Brethren of Purity"), 292-294, 339, 364, 378-381
Abu 'Ikrima the Saddler ('Abbasid da'i), 236, 239
Ilah (God), Attitudes of wor- shippers in Prayer spell — , 412
Ilaqi (poet), 468
Ihad, 153
Iltatmish, Shamsu'd-Din — , 450
'Imadu'd-Dawla (Buwayhid), 360, 364
•Imadu'd-Din -Katib -Isfa- hani (historian), 448
Imamate, Doctrine of — , 296. See Shi'ites, Sect of the Set-en, Sect oj tlie Twelve, (jlmlal, &c.
Iinamiyya (sect), 386. See Shi'iles, &c.
Imams, 130, 134, 214, 224. 229, 233 233, 246, 252, 284, 296, 310-311, 3>3, 315, 358. 391-415; — of 'Abbasids, 237 ; — • of Stinnis, 276, 277, 295 ; — of History, 361
Imperialism, 232, 235, 328
Abu 'Imran (Jawidan b. Suhrak), 325, 326, 328
Incarnation (hulul, q.v.), 279, 313, 3i6, 318, 320, 322, 327, 362, 363, 396, 398, 399, 428, 429, 435
India, Persian literature of — ,3; — and Zoroaster, 34 , Influence of — in forma- tion of Sufi doctrines, 300- 301, 419, 426, 442 ; Man-els of —, 368 ; Natives of — who contributed to Arabic literature, 306, 371 ; — invaded by Mahmad. 376 ; — visited by Manes, 158,
159, 163 ; by -Hallaj,
431, 434, 435; — Office Library, 450 ; minor refer- ences, 42, 45, 46, 54, 79, 04, 102, no, 138, 140, 179, 227, 258, 278, 306, 382, 387
Indianists, 300, 301, 419
Indians and Iranians, 33. 34, 35, 3fi, 37. 56, in. 113
Injil. See Gospel
Inquisition against Mani- chreans, 163
lonians, 94
Iqna' (work on Prosody by the Sahib Istna'il b. 'Abbad), 374
'Iqdaniyya (Council of Car- ID athiaus), 404
Iraj (son of Fcridun), 115, u6
INDEX
507
Iran, 4, 5, 115. 139 ; — (proper name = Arphaxad), 114, 128. See also Persia
Iranophiles, 269
•Iraq, 19, 131. 163, 195, 196, 199, 219, 233, 239, 251, 266, 272, 282, 446, 448, 465, 466
'Iraqi (Persian poet), 420
'Irfan (Gnosis), 424
Irish patriots, 346
•Isab. Musa('Abbasid Prince),
354
•Isa b. 'AH (Christian phy- sician), 368
'Isa b. la'far (Shi'ite), 343
'Isa b. 'Muhammad (general), 323
'Isa b. 'Umar -Thaqafi (gram- marian). 275
Isfahan (Ispahan), 4, 19, 79, 83, 139, 203, 311, 313, 315, 364, 376, 448
Isfandiyar (Isfandiyadh), 116, 117, 142, 147, 150, 269
Ibn Isfandiyar, 348, 470
Isfara'ini, Snaykh Abu'1-Mud- hartar Tahir — , 322
Ishaq b. Alptagin, 372
Ishaq (great - grandson of Thabitb. Qurra), 304
Ishaq b. Hassan-Khurraini (Persian Shu'ubi), 268
Ishaq b. Hunayn, 306, 363
Ishaq b. Ibrahim (governor of Baghdad), 284, 330, 334
Ishaq b. Ibrahim -Mawsili (musician), 345
Ishaq "the Turk," 247, 313,
3«4
Abu Ishaq (biographer of the Prophet), 263, 272, 276, 277
Abu Ishaq- Farsi (Samanid poet), 365
Abu Ishaq (of Shiraz, gastro- nomic poet), 85
Ishinael, 409
Isidore (Neo-Platonist philo- sopher), 421
Islam, Introduction into Per- sia of — , 8, ii, 36, 90, 181, 194-208 ; attitude of — to- wards Magians, 113 ; Mani- cha-ar.s in — , 159, 162, 163 ; — contrasted with Arab paganism. 185-124, 212-213; meaning of — , 384
Isma'ilis, 86, 101, 130, 159, 172, 268, 295. 3". 312, 339, 352, 359, 3*2. 336, 391-415. 421- 423, 437. 455, 45°. See also Camialhians, Fatitnids, Ghulat, Sect of the Seven, fee.
Isma'il, Imam — , 296, 393,
396, 407, 409
Isma'il b. 'Abbad. See -Sahib Isma'il b. Ahmad (Samanid),
348, 354. 4«> Isma'il b. Yasar, 266 liiiaJ (of Traditions), 271 Ispa (dialect-word for dog),
96
Ispahbads of Tabaristan, 8,
200,334
Israfil (Angel), 427 Istakhr (Stakhar Papakan),
19. 432 -Jstajchri (fltogragher^ 368,
isfjghn'a'i, Abu'l- Mudhaffar Nasr — , 467
Islikhraj ("squeezing" dis- missed governors), 233
ioroc ( = chetak), 153
Ithna-'ashariyya. See Sect of t!ie Twelve"
Izads (Angels), 100, 101
'Izzu'd- Din of Haniadan (dialect poet), 86
J
Tabalqa, 246
Jabir b. Hayyan, 274, 276
Jackson, Professor A. V. W.
— . 30, 31 Jacquet, 64 Ja'd b. Dirham, 164 -Ja'di, -Harith b. 'Abdu'llah
— , 242
la 'far b. Abi Talib, 187 Ja'far -Barmaki (the Banne-
cide), 254, 257 Ja'far -Sadiq, Imam — , 296,
393- 394- 396. 4°9 Abu Ja'far ('Abbasid Imam),
240, 243 Abu Ja'far b. -'Abbas b.
-Hasan, 365 Abu Ja'far Muhammad b.
Musa -Musawi, 365 -Jahidh, 'Amr b. Bahr — , 15,
no, 165, 260, 267, 268, 306,
351 -Jahiliyyat, 100, 261. See also
Arabian Heatiieiiisin Abu'l- Jahm (Wazir), 257 Jahwar b. Marrar (general),
3H Jalalu'd- Din Rumi, 294, 389,
416, 423, 434, 437, 441, 444 Jalibu'l-hijara, Hasan b. Zayd
(Sayyid of Taharistan), 348 alinus. See Galen alula, 199, 203, 204 amasp (brother of Kawadh),
171 Jamasp-tiamak (Pahlawi
work), 107 Vatnliara (of Ibn Durayd),
366
*Jami (Persian poet and mys- tic), 293, 299, 362, 417, 418,
420, 423-426, 437-439, 441-
442, 144, 456, 457 JFamftt't- Taivarikh (of
Rashidu'd- Din Kadlu'llah),
392, 393 Jamshid ( = Yima of Avesta),
56, 80, 112-114, 268, 388 Janashk. 470 -Januabi (Carniathiau leader),
359, 367, 4°2. 4°3, 4°5
Taphet, 116
Jargh (place), 3*
-Jarrah, Abu 'Ubayda — , 297
Ibnu'l-Jarrah, 261
yaivami'u'l- Hikayat (of
'Awfi), 283 Jawidan-i-Kabir (Hurufi
book), 26, 27, 86 Jawidan (master of Babak),
325-328 *Ibnu'l-Jawzi (historian), 434,
435
iaxartes (river), 204 azir (in sense of mihman- dar), 326
Jerusalem, 378 esus Christ, 113, 154, 162, 163, 288, 311, 387, 408, 409, 427, 432, 434
"Jesus Patabilis" (of Gnos- tics), 161 Jewish-Persian, 9, 277, 179-
Jews, 4, 20, 29, 39, 106, 113, 127, 151, 288, 303, 382, 384, 388, 395 : religion of — hated by Manes, 158, 162 ;
— in Yemen, 175 ; — under Islam, 200-20 1, 232, 290, 3", 343-344: apocryphal books of — , 241 ; — and heathen Arabs, 261, 274 ;
— in Arabic and Persian literature, 276, 306, 479-480
Jibril b. Bokht-Yishu1, 367 linn (genies), 112, 431 lizya (poll-tax), 164, 201, 234 iohn the Baptist, 409 [ohn of Damascus, 282 [ohn Malalas, 169, 172 [ones, Sir William — , 49-58,
"3 de Jong. See Lata'ifu'l-
Ma'arif Joseph II., 153 Jubba (garment), 297 -Jubba'i (Mu'tazilite doctor),
291
Judaism, 162, 301 " Juden-hasse," 29 Julahaof Abhar (dialect poet),
86
Julian the Apostate, 304 -Jumahi, Abu 'Abdi'llah
Muhammad b. Sallam, 278,
344. 447 Junayd of Baghdad (Sufi).
298, 363, 367. 427, 428, 434,
436 Junaydi, Abu 'Abdi'llah
Muhammad b. Abdullah
(bi-lingual poet), 453, 467 Junde-Shapur, 10, 158, 167,
305, 344. See also Gnnde-
Shapur
Jupiter (planet), 458, 461 Jurjan, 448. See Gurgan " Just King." 166. See
Nushirwan Justi, 68, 91, 314, 325 Justinian, 167, 421 Jutes, 5
508
INDEX
-Juybari, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Muhammad -Bukhari — (Persian poet), 459
Ju-yi-Muliyan, 16
K
Ka', Amir — , 86
Ka'ba, 177, 226, 231, 314, 403
Kabul, 35
Kafar (for Kafir), 244
Kafi of Karaj (dialect poet), 86
Kafi of -Kulayni (Shi'ite theo- logical work), 367
Kafir-kubat, 244
Kaikobad Adarbad Nosher- wan, 9, 1 08
Kalam. See Scholastic Philo- sophy.
Kalbatakin (Turkish officer),
342
Ibnu'l-Kalbi (historian and
genealogist), 272, 275, 277 Kalila and Dimna, Book
of — , _?6, no, 275, 332 ;
RudagrB'f'ersian version,
457, 474 -Kalini (-Kulayni : Shi'ite
divine), '67 Kalwadha 397 Kam-baksh, Cambyses ex- plained as — , 55 Kambujiya, (Cambyses), 31
55, 92
Kamil of -Mubarrad, 221 "Kamilu'l-Tawarikh (of
Ibnu'l-Athir), 360-361, 375 Kanheri Buddhist Caves, 103 Kanzu'l - Ihya (Manichaean
book), 156
Kar- (Persian root), 27 Karach. 360 Karde (divisions of Vispercd
so called), 99 Karim b. Shahriyar, 207 Karkas, 94 *K<zr-natnak-i-Aftakhshatr-i-
Fapakano, 9, 106, 108, 122,
136, 137-151 Karshuni (Arabic written in
Svriac character), 8 Kas'han, 26, 27, 80, 83, 86, 315 Kashifi, Husayn Wa'idh — ,
52 Kashsh (in Transoxiana), 244,
321 -Kaslishaf (of -Zamakhshari),
289
KfiOapoi (= Ke'^er), 160 *Katibi of Nishapur (Persian
poet), 225 Ka'us, Dastur — , 47 ; Mulla
— 53 Ka'us, Kay — (mythical king),
»6 Kawad, 134, 169, 171. See
also Qubad. Kawaem Hwareno (= Farr-
i-Kayani, or " Royal Splen- dour"), 143
Kawa Husrawa, 55. See Kay Khusraw.
Kawakimardan (near Merv), 3i8
Kawatan, Khusraw-i , 107.
See iVushinvan.
Kayani Dynasty, 115-117, 119, 121, 128
Kay Ka'us (legendary king). 116
Kay Ka'us (Ziyarid prince), 471
Kay Qubad, 116
Kayt (or Kayd), King of India), 138
Kazarun, 364
Kazimirski, A. de Biberstein — . 331. 340, 369. 452
Kaysaniyya.(Slii'a sect), 392
Kenoma, 408, 410
Kerbela, 226-228, 231, 291, 343
Kern, 64
Keshe (dialect of — ), 27
Kessler, 155
Ketzer(= KaBapoi), 160
*" Keys of the Sciences," 372
Khabbazi of Xishapur (Per- sian poet), 468
-Kha'.a. See Kenoma
Ibn Khalawayh (gramma- rian). 370
Ibn Khaldun, 76, 275
Khalid b. 'Abdu'llah - Qasri, 163, 233, 239
Khalid b. Barmak, 258
Khalid b. Fayyad(Aiab poet), 14. 17
Khalid b. Yazid (Umayyad Prince). 274
Khalifa. Khilafat See Caliph, Caliphate
Khalil b. Ahmad (gramma- rian), 275, 276
*Ibn Khal'.ikan (biographer, cited generally in de Slane's translation), 208. 267, 279, 298, 299, 316, 320-321, 324, 330, 33i, 363, 370, 374, 445, 448, 470
Khanikoff, 206
Kbaqan of Turks, 163, 268, 3i8
Khaqani (Persian poet), 389, 437
Kharidatu'd-Dahr (antho- logy), 448
Kharijites (Khawarij), 212, 220-224, 228, 231-232, 240, 263, 279. 280, 330, 386
Kharrad (= Frobag) Fire, 140
Khartum, 245
Khash (brother of Afshin). 334
Khatt-i-badi' (Babi writing), 165
Khattabiyya sect, 396
Khayr - i - Mahd (" Absolute Good "), 438
Khayyam. See 'Umar Khay- yam
-Khayzuran (wife of Caliph- Mahdi). 417
K h a z i m b. Khuzayma
(general), 317 Khifara (blackmail levied by
Carmathians), 359 Khorda Avesta, 101 Khouabir, Cups with Man-
daean inscriptions found
at — . 302 Khrafstar (unclean animals so
called), 160
Khshaeta (= -shid), 113 Khshayarsha, 56, 92. See
Xerxes Khshayathiya Khshayathiya-
nam (= Shahanshah, " King
of Kings"), 66 Khudliay - natnak, 107, 123.
See also Shahnama and
Kings, Book of — Khujistan, 355 Khumani (Humay, Queen — ),
117 Khurasan, 13, 35, 146, 148, 164,
189, 200, 207, 237, 239-244,
247, 252, 258, 263, 265, 276,
278, 310, 316, 319, 321, 329,
340, 342, 346, 351, 352, 355,
365, 367, 371, 372, 397, 399,
432, 434, 445-448, 45°, 45i.
458, 465
Ibn Khurdadhbih (geo- grapher), 35, 344 Khurra-i-Khuda'ih. See Farr-
i-Kayani Khurra - Khusraw (satrap of
Yemen), 262 Khurrama (wife of Mazdak),
313 Khurratni sect, 240, 246, 247,
311-313, 315- 323-325, 328,
387
Khurram-abad. 315 Khurra-zadh Khusraw, 174 Khusrawani (minstrel), 18 *Khusrawani, Abu Tahir —
(Samanid poet), 466-467 Khusra\vi of Sarakhs, Abu
Bakr Muhammad b. 'Ali —
(poet of Qabus b. Wasnm-
gir) 453. 466 Khusraw Firuz, 448 Khusraw Kawadhan and his
Page, Story of — , 9 Khusraw - i - Mihr - Gushnasp
(Sasanian king), 174 Khusraw Parwiz (Sasanian
king), 6. See Panviz Khutba, 244 Khuttal (in Transoxianat
244
Kbuzayna (Governor of Khu- rasan), 237
Khuzistan, 19, 305. 370, 402 Khvctu- das (next - of - kin
marriages). 117 309 Khwaf, 308, 355 Khwarazm, 94, 446, 448 -Khwarazmi, Abu 'Abdi'llah
Muhammad b. Ahmad b.
Yusuf — (author of ifa-
fatihw'l-'ulum, q.v.), 372.
378
INDEX
509
Kimiva-i-Sa'adat (of -Ghaz-
zali), 293 -Kindi (Arab philosopher),
278, 288, 356, 357, 372, 381 "King of the Paradises of
Light," 162, 165 Kim's, Book of — , 135. See
Snahnama Kirman, 27, 83, 87, 105, 109,
138, 145, 207, 343, 347, 364,
371, 448
-Kisa'i (grammarian), 276, 277 Kisa'i (Persian poet), 368,
452 Kisra (= Khusraw, Chosroes),
127-129. See also Nushir-
wan Kisra (Khusraw) son of Hur-
mazd, 268
-Kisra wi (historian), no Kitabu l-abniya 'an haqa'iqfl-
adwiya, 478
'l-Aghani, 15, 245, 262,
37L 447
'l-Awa'il, 356
'l-Iiayan wa't-Titryan,
260, 351
'l-Bukha!a, 267, 351
'l-Buldan (of Ya'qubi,
q.v.), 314. 321
'LFutuk, 152, 357. See
-Baladhuri
'l-Hayawan (of -Jahidh,
q-v), 15
'i-Huda wa't-Tadbir, 156
'l-Ishara bi - 'ilmi'l-
'Ibara, 274
— — 'l-Jawami', 274
'LMa'arif (of Ibn Qu-
tayba, q.v.), 169, 277, 324,
357, 887-388
'l-Mahasin wa'l-Addad,
15-18
man la yahdurnhu'l-
Faqih, 375
'l-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik,
344
'LMilal (of -Shahristani,
q.v.), 169, 220, 396, 420
'l-Uu'ammarin. 350
-t-Mushtarik (of Yaqut,
q.v.), 3*1
Rahatfs-Suditr, 85
'sh-Shubuhat (of Yaqul),
321
— '/-Toy, 372
't-Tanbih wa'l-Ishraf
(of -Mas'udi, q.v.), 119, 127, 328, 368
'l-'Uyun (of Ibn Miska-
wayhi), 362, 428, 430 'Ir-Yamini, 457
'a-Zuhd, 274
Kitchener, Lord — , 245 Kleuker, 57
Knots, Blowing on — , 366
Knowledge, Travel in search of — , 271, 272
Krehl,i88
•von Kremer, 90, 201, 203, 206, 211, 213, 220, 221, 234, 247, 255, 969, 261, 267, 378,
279, 280, 282, 288, 800, 307, 370-371, 373. 4IQ- 4*°
Kud.ik i-dana ("the Wise Child"), 328
Kudiyya sect, 311
Kula, 196, 199, 203, 210, 216,
218, 219, 222, 224, 230, 234,
243, 244, 263, 298, 359, 363, 370, 385, 3<A 403. 4°5 Kutic character, 103 Kuh-i-Bibi Shahr-banu, 131 Kuhistan, 428, 429, 448 Kun- (Persian root), 27 Kunik, 304
KVitlV, 26
Kurdistan, 10, 83, 87 Kurds, 137, 139, 388, 463 Kurush, 92. See Cymt Ibn Kushajim (poet), 253, 371 Kushiya, 94
Kushti (sacred girdle), 99 Kuthayyir (poet), 235 Kyupruiu-zade Library (Con- stantinople), 276, 383
La (in Pahlawi), 58
de Lagarde, Paul — , 19, 260,
479 -Lahharn, Abu'l-Hasan —
(Samanid poet), 365 Lahiq ("the Subsequent" in
Isma'ili system), 414 Lahma (= nan, "bread," in
Pahlawi), 66, 76 La hukma ilia li'llah (Khari-
jite war-cry), 222 Lakhi'a Dhu Shanatir (King
of Yaman), 174 Lalla Rookh (of Moore), 318 Latna'at(pl 'Iraqi), 420 Lane-Poole, Stanley — , 214,
254. 364, 371
Lar (town in Persia), 294 Lassen (of Bonn), 63, 64, 67 Lata'ifu'l-Ma'ari/ (of -Tha'a-
libi), 255, 317, 354 Latifa-i-ghaybiyya, 283 Latin verses, 446 Laud, Archbishop — , 41 Laudian Professor of Arabic,
19,4' Lawh-i-Mahfudh (" Preserved
Tablet "), 427 Layla (wife of -Husayn,
mother of 'AH Akbar), 131 Layla (the beloved of Maj-
nun), 84 Layth, House of — . See
Saffarids Legend, National — of Persia,
in. See Shahnama, &c. Le Strange, Guy — , 367 Levy (of Breslau), 103 Leyden library. 383 *Li/>ht of Asia, 442-443 Lingam, 52 Lisanu'l-Ghayb, 225. See
Hafidh
Lisanu'1-Mulk, 170, 312 Literatures, Arabic and Per- sian, comparative value of
— • 211 Loftus, 64 Aoyof 0«of, 97 Longimanus, 137, 142. See
Artaxerxes, Bahman, Diraz-
dast, Ma/cpo^ftp Lord, Henry — , 42 L'Orient, 46
Love, typal and real — , 442 *Lubabu'l-albab (of 'Awfi,
q.v.), 13, 262, 440-451 Lu^hat-i-Furs (of Asadi.q.v.)
86, 450, 457 Lukari, Abu'l-Hasan 'All b.
Muhammad - Ghazzali —
(Persian poet), 463 Abu Lulu'a (assassin of the
Caliph 'Umar), 203, 215 Lull, Raymond — , 40 Luri dialect, 83 Luristan, 19, 87 Lydians, 21
M
-Ma'arri, Abu'l-'Ala — (philo- sophical poet), 320, 321, 371
Ma 'bad -Juhani, 282
Macedon, 119
Machiya (people), 94
Mada, 77. See Media, Mah-
Mada'in, 132, 199, 222, 311, 324. See Ctesiphon
-Mada'ini, 278
-Madina, 36. 132, 133, 183, 189, 195, 196, 199, 203, 205, 210, 213, 218, 224, 226, 228, 230, 245, 271, 274, 277, 295, 290-300, 307
Madrid, 294
Abu'l-Mafakhir of Ray, 437
*Mafatihu'l-'ulitm (" Keys of the Sciences"), 372, 378, 382-383
Magi (tribe of — ), 30
Magians (Magush, Majus), 12, 22, 23, 28, 31, 282, 309, 314, 347, 362, 367, 372, 426. 434, 443, 448. See Guebrcs, Zoroastrians
Magic, 320, 379, 436 ; " Law- ful — ," 366
Magopat (Mubad), 9. See Zoroastrian priests
Mahabadian Dynasty, 55
Mahabeli, 55
Ibn Mahabzud (Mah-afzud), 448
Mahafarid (wife of Iraj), 116
Mahan (= Maymun), 263
Mah- (as prefix, in Mali- Basra, Mah - Nahawand, &c.), 19, 42, 77
Mahbul, 55
Mahdi, 241, 395, 397; -Saffah so considered, 244 ; — of Sudan, 245 : Abu Muslim
INDEX
BO considered, 246 ; Fatimid
— , 397. See also Messianic
Idea -Mahdi (/Abbasid Caliph),
159, 162, 207, 254, 267, 276,
3°7, 317, 3i8, 322, 328 Mahdiyya (city of — ), 353,
359, 397
Mahfurudhin, 308 Mahmud of Ghazna, HI, 337,
339. 371, 376, 456, 457, 468,471 Mahmud Shabistari (poet and
mystic), 282, 444 Mahmud Warraq (Persian
poet), 355
Mahmud (elephant), 177 Mah-Sa/. anda ("Moon- maker"), 319. See -Mu-
qanna' Mahyar b. Marzuya-Daylami,
448
Mainvo-i-Khirad, 82, 106, 159 Ibn K'laja, 357 Ifajalisu'l-Mu'minin (of Say-
yid Nuru'llah -Shushtari),
349. 437 Maiaz ("the Metaphorical"),
442 Abu'l-Majid Rayagani (dialect
poet), 86
Mujniii'ii'l-Fusaha, 449, 455 Majnun, 84 -Majusi, 'AH b. -'Abbas
(physician), 375 Makhul (traditionist), 272 MaK|0<$xtip> 117. S«e Longi-
manus
-Mala. See Pleroma Malabar Coast, 103 Malahida. 408. See Assassins Malahim (Apocryphal books),
241
Malabo, John — , 169, 172 Malcolm, Sir John — ,212 Malik b. Anas, 274, 276, 277,
295, 298, 386
Malikite sect, 294, 295, 298 Malka, Malkan-malka, 58, 66,
71, 76 -Ma'mari, Abu Mansur —
(author of Persian prose
version of Book of Kings),
123
Mamelukes, 209 -Ma'mun ('Abbasid Caliph),
13, 104, 105, 164, 166, 168,
292, 254, 238, 239, 267, 276,
283, 284, 288, 302-303, 307,
323, 336, 339, 340, 343, 346,
351. 352, 452, 479, 480 Manaqibu'sh-Shu'ara. 449 M a'nawi of Bukhara (Persian
poet), 468 „
Manchester Library, 452 '*
(Mandxans, 158, 302
Manes (Mani), 136, 137, 184-
189, 308, 415, 422 ; Gate of
— , 158 Manichxans, 43, 104, 106, 184-
166, 170, 172, 202, 207, 301,
807, 362, 382, 387, 431, 443-
bee also Zindiq
-Manini .(commentator of
-•Utbi), 456 Manjak (dialect poet), 453,
462 -Mansur ('Abbasid Caliph),
254, 257, 258, 265, 276,
288, 295, 305, 313-317, 343,
344
-Mansur (Fatimid Caliph), 403 Mar.sur-i-Hallaj. See Husayn
b. Mansur Mansur b. Ishaq (Samanid),
363 Mansur b. -Mahdi ('Abbasid),
254 Mansur I b. Nuh (Samanid),
ii, 356, 368, 455, 461, 477 Mansur lib. Nuh (Samanid),
468 Abu Mansur of Aba (Persian
poet), 464 Abu Mansur 'Abdu'l-Malik.
See Tlta'alibi Abu Mansur b. 'Abdu'r-
Razzaq, 123
Abu Mansur-Ma'mari, 123 Ibn Mansur (disciple of
-Hallaj), 435 Mansuri (of -Razi), 363 *Mantiqi of Ray, Mansur b.
'AH — (Buwayhid poet), 453,
463, 465. 466 Maiitiqit't-Tayt (of 'Attar,
q.v.), 444
Manuchihr (legendary Per- sian King), 116 Manuchihri, Dastur — , 47 Manushchihar (author of
Datistan-i-Dinik, 105 Manuchihri (poet). See
Minttchihri Manuscript, Oldest Post-
Muhammadan Persian — ,
ri
Maqamat (of Hariri), 464 -Maqdisi (geographer), 293 Mara-bokht (name), 145 Marcion, 160 Marcionites, 382, 387 Mardanshah (Persian gene- ral), 200 Mardanshah - i - Zadan-i-Far-
rukh (Persian accountant),
205
Mardan-S'tna, 129 Mardawij b. Ziyar, 359, 360,
365
Mardin, 302
Marianus (alchemist), 274 Maria Theresa, 153 Markham, Clements — , 212 Marriage Contract, Form of
— , 109
Mars (Planet), 461 Martyn, Henry — , 423 Ma'riif -Karkhi (Sufi), 298,42,1 *Ma'rufi of Balkh (Samanid
poet), 463
Marv, Marw. See Merv Marv-Dasht, 70 Marvels of India ('Aja'iMl-
Hind), 368
Marwan I. (Umayyad), 215, 263
Marwan II. (Umayyad), "the Ass," 215, 240-245, 265
Marwan b. Abi Hafsa (poet), 276
Marwarudh, 242, 244
Maryam, Suratu — (ch. xix of Qu'ran), 187
Maryam Utakhim (mother of Manes), 158
Marzuban (Ispahbad), 478
Marzuban b. Rustam (Ispah- bad), 159
Marzuban-nama, 478
Abu Ma'shar (astronomer),
357 Ma siwa'a'llah ("What is
beside God"), 438 Masjid -i - Madar-i-Sulayman,
'13 Masruq (Abyssinian King),
178
Masrur (executioner), 254 Ibn Mas'ud (Companion). 217 *-Mas'udi (historian), 14, 109,
1 10, 119-120, 127-128, 169,
217, 218, 230, 237, 267, 297,
314, 324, 328, 368, 417 Abu'l-Mathal of Bukhara
(Persian poet), 468 Mathalib (satires), 269 Mathematics, 380, 382, 386 Mathnawi form of verse, 18,
473-474- 476 Mathnawi (of Jalalu'd-Din
Rumi), 423, 434, 437. 44°,
441, 444
Main (text of a tradition), 271 Ibn Matran, Abu Muhammad
— (Samanid poet), 365 -Maturidi (theologian), 367 Mawali ("Clients," pi. of
Mawla), 229, 230, 232-235,
242, 247, 260, 263, 264, 266.
See Racial Prejudice, Sub-
ject Races Ma wara'u'n- Nahr.
See
Transoxiana Max Miiller, 33-34, 57 Maymadh (or Mimad), 324 Maymuniyya (sect). 396 Mays (mother of Manes), 158 Maysara -'Abdi ('Abbasid
da'i), 236 Mazamir (Psalms of David.
q.v.), 113 Mazandaran, 19, 26, 83, 86 ;
Dialect of — , 348, 478 Mazda. See Ahura Mazda,
Hurmazd Mazdak, 135, 136, 137, 166-
178, 202, 247, 312-313, 316,
318, 323, 324, 326, 328, 362,
387
Mazdak-nama, 169, 332 — - Mazyar, 33O-33I, 334-33^ Mecca, 173, 174, 176-178, 186,
189, 213, 216, 224, 228, 230,
231, 245, 261, 270, 307, 316,
345, 357, 358, 359, 3^7, 4°*. 403, 405
INDEX
Medes. 19-14. 36, 28, 30, 31,
33. 37. 4>. 65. 9°. i« :
Language of — , 22-24, 77-78 Me<lia, 5, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 31. 32. 42. 94. 96 Medicine, 289, 304, 305, 307,
381, 382, 430 Meiners, 57 Menant. Professor J. — , 64 ;
Mademoiselle — , 102 Mercia, 5 ; Dialect of — , 479 Mercurius, St. — , Church of
— 399 Merv, 13. 35, 237, 242, 244,
295, 3i8, 3*o, 340, 428, 452,
467, 475 Mesopotamia, 305, 402, 421,
448 Messiah, 162, 395, 480. See
also Jesus Chtist Messianic Idea, 232, 241, 479 Metempsychosis, 279, 311, 316.
See Tanasvkh Metrical system of Persians
and Arabs, 472 Meyer, W. — , 59 ite Mtynard, Barbier — , 365,
368,447
M ichael, Archangel — , 427 Microcosm, 412 Middle Persian, 7, 80, 82. See
Pahlaiei Mihriyya (sect of Mani-
chxans), 165 Mihrgan, Festival of — , 259,
475
Mihrjani, Abu Ahmad — , 293 Mihyar, Abu'l-Hasan — , 207 Abu Mikhnaf Lut b. Vuhya,
-Azdi, 273 Milky Way, 161 Milton, 37
Mini b. Mim b. Mini, 241 Miniad (or Maymad), 325 *-Mi'mari (or -Mirammari),
Shaykh Abu Zura'a —
(Persian poet), 458-459 Mino ("celestial," meaning
"Royal"), 153 Minuchihri (Persian poet), 12,
1 3. 331. 340, 369, 474. (The
allusions are all to A. de
Biberstein Kazimirski's
Preface to his edition of
the Diw.iri) Miqlasiyya (sect of Mani-
charsns). 1^5 Mislikatu'l-Anwar (of -Ghaz
zali). 362, 436 Mission. See Da~wa Missionary driven from Persia
by name, 270 ; Missionary's
dislike of Sufis, 423 ; Reason
of Missionaries' failure in
Asia, 265
Mithr (Mihr) Fire, 139, 140 Mithra, Zoroastrian worship
of — , 95, 101 Milhrak (Mihrak), adversary
of Ardashir Babakan. 138 "Modern Medic" (of M. CL
Huart), 27
Modern (i.e., Post-Muhamma-
dan), Persian, & 8, 1 1, 39,
89 : — defined, 82 Mogul , Great — , 209 Mogutbish (" Magicide "), 31 Mohl, Jules — , 369 Mohsan (Muhsin) Fan), 54 Molten Brass Ordeal, 157 Mongol Invasion, 0, 82, 197 -
108, 200-211, 271, 273, 286,
877, 391. 479 Monophysites, 168 Moody, 43
Moon (Beauty), 320, 321 "Moon-maker" (Mah-sazan-
da), 319. See Muqatina' Moore, Thomas — (Irish
poet), 318, 447 Moors, 9, 39, 275. 334, 335.
See also Spain. Africa,
Utnayyaits of Cordova. &c. Morality at 'Abbasid Court,
251-252 Mordecai, 21 Morier, 423
Morocco, 340. See also Moors Morris, Lewis — , 447 Moses, 29, 113, 119, 188, 288,
408, 409, 427, 430, 436, 440 Moses of Khorene. 117 Mosheim, 155 " Most Great Name," 314 " Mother of Nine Imams,"
131. 132
Mu'allaqat, 276, 369-370 Mu'allimun (grade of Mani-
chieans), 164 Mu'awiya I (Umayyad
Caliph), 212, 215, 217-219,
221, 223-225, 361, 291 Mu'awiya II (Umayyad
Caliph), 215
Mu'awiya b. Hisham, 215 Mu'ayyidu'd-Dawla (Buway-
hid), 374 Mu'ayyidu'l - Mulk (Persian
poet), 464 Abu'l-Mu'ayyad of Balkh
(Persian poet), 468 Abu'l-Mu'ayyad of Bukhara
(Persian poet), 468 Mubad (Magopat), 309, 331.
See Zoroastrian Priests -Mubarrad, 221, 350, 357, 375 Mubayyida (= Sapid-jama-
gan, the "White-clad"
heretics), 311-313, 318, 319,
322, 323
Abu'l-Mudhaffar, Amir — ,460 *Abu'l - Mudhatfar Nasr
-Istighna'i(Persian poet), Abu'l-Mudhaffar Tahir b.
Fadl b. Muhammad Muhtaj
-Saghani (Chaghani), 471 -Mufaddal -Dabbi, 276, 278 -Mufaitdaliyyat, 276 -Mufid (the ' Pre-existent " in
the Isma'ili system), 414 Mugluunmas (place near
Mecca), 177 Mughtasila, 158, 303. Se«
also Ifam&MM, Sabxans
Miihajirun. 186. 213. 220 Muhammadan Religion. See
Islam
Muhammad (the Prophet), birth of — , 173, 214 ; — threatened by Khusraw Parwiz 183 , aim and achievement of — , 186-190. 194, 212-213, 234; — and Abu Talib, 193 ; — and Magiatis, 201-202, 206 : — and spoils of war, 205 ; dislike of — for Persian legends, 269 ; — In Isma'ili system, 408 409, 412-414 ;
— and Sufiism, 418 ; — in Apocrypha of Daniel, 479- 480 ; minor references, 113, 130, 132, 166, 177, 181, 200, 203, 209, 210, 216, 229, 275, 276, 287, 297, 299. 4°8, 4°9. 430
Muhammad b. 'Abdu'llah b. . . 'Abbas, 254 - b. -. Azdi, 276
b. b. Maymun, 397,
409
— b. 'Abdu'l - Malik. See Ibnu'z-Zayyat
— b. 'Abdu'r- Rahman -'Amiri, 273
b. 'Abdu's-Samad (Sahi-
bu'sh-Shurta), 432
— b. Ahmad -Farsi (= Hallai, q.v.), 431
— b. 'All b. 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas, 236, 237, 240
b. b. 'Umar -Salimi,
274
Baqir, Imam — , 409
, Mirza, of Bawanat,
39°
Darabi, 283, 285
b. Hasan -Shaybani, 276
b. Humayd, 323
Husayn, Mir, 54
b. Ishaq (author of
Fihrist, q.v.), 76, no
b. Isma'il, 296, 393, 394,
397, 404 408, 409, 414. See also Isma'ilis, &c.
b. Khalid b. Barmak, 164
b. Khunays ('Abbasid
da'i), 236
b. Marwan (Umayyad
Prince), 215
b. -Mu'tasim ('Abbasid
Prince), 254
b. -Rawwad -Azdi, 325
b. Sa'ib -Kalbi, 275
b. Shirin, 274
b. -Zayyat. See Ibnit'z-
Zayvat Abu Muhammad b.Yaminu'd-
Dawla -Ghaznawi, 471 Muhammira (" those who
wear Red as their badge "),
311-313, 323, 329 Muharram, 227
-Muhasibi (Sun). 345, 424 Miiliit (of the Sahib isi
t>. .Ibbad, q.v.), 374
Isma'il
512
INDEX
Muhitu'J-Multit (Arabic Dic- tionary), 326
-Muhtadi ('Abbasid Caliph), 254, 345
•Muir, Sir William — , 188,
191, 192, 210, 211, 219, 220, 222, 224, 226, 227, 229, 240, 251, 317, 342 345
Mu'izzu'd-Dawla (Buwayhid),
164, 364, 367 -Mu'izz (Fatimid Caliph), 367,
399 Mujallidi, Sharif— of Gurgan,
15, 16 -Mu'jam fi Ma'abiri Ash'ari
'Ajam, 473
Itiijmalu't-Tavrarikh, no -Mukhtar, 228, 229, 231, 233,
234, 238 -Muktati ('Abbasid Caliph),
357, 358
Mulamma' poetry, 467 Ibn Muljam, 224 Miiller, Friedrich — , 64, 153 Miiller, Joseph — , 64, 72 Muluku t-Tawa'if, 79, HI, 118.
See also.Parthians Mundhir (King of Hira), 179,
262
Munk, 479 *-Munqidh mina'd Dalai (of
-Ghazzali), 422 -Muntasir ('Abbasid Caliph),
254- 345 Miinter, 60
-Muqaddasi (geographer), 293 Ibnu'l-Muqaffa', 76, 110, 113,
123, 169, 207-208, 273, 306,
319, 332 -Muqanna' ("Veiled Prophet
of Khurasan "), 247, 309, 311,
313, 318-323 Ibn Muqla, 76, 275, 364 -Muqtadir ('Abbasid Caliph),
164, 358-360, 363, 364, 428,
429, 431 Murghab, 113 -Muriyani, Abu Ayyub — ,
258
-Murjiya (sect), 279-281, 386 Abu Murra.b. 'Urwa-Thaqafi,
Murshid (spiritual director), 424
*Murujit'dh-Dhahab(oi -Mas- 'itdi, q.v.), 169, 230, 257, 267, 297, 324, 368, 417
Muruwwa (" Virtue," as con- ceived by Pagan Arabs), 190, 193
Musa b. 'Ali . . . b. 'Abbas,
254 Musa -Kadhm (Seventh Imam
of " Sect of the Twelve "),
206, 393
Abu Musa -Ash'ari, 216, 219 Abu Musa b. Nusayr, 263 Mus'ab b.-Zubayr, 228, 229 Musawwida (" Those who
wear Black as their badge,"
i.e., the partisans of the
'Abbasids), 242, 243
Mushabbiha. See Anthropo- morphism. Mnshammasun (grade of
Alanichaeans), 164 Music, 380, 382, 383 Muslim -Nishaburi (tradi-
tionist), 351
Muslim b. -Walid (poet), 276 Abu Muslim, 240-244, 248,
247, 256, 308-310, 313-315,
317, 320, 322, 328, 392, 410. Muslimiyya (the Sect of Abu
Muslim), 313, 315 -Mustafid (" the Subsequent "
in the Isma'ili system), 414 -Musta'in ('Abbasid Caliph),
254. 345 Mustakli ('Abbasid Caliph),
3^4 -Mustansir (Fatimid Caliph),
400 -Musta'sim bi'llah (last
'Abbasid Caliph of Bagh- dad), 6, 164, 209, 210 -Mu'tadid ('Abbasid Caliph),
254, 358. 4°5 Mutahhar b. Fatima (the
grandson of Abu Muslim),
328 -Mu'tamid ('Abbasid Calipli),
254, 350, 353, 354- 356, 388 -Mutanabbi (the poet), 369,
446, 472 -Mu'tasim ('Abbasid Caliph),
252, 254, 278, 329 336, 342. Muta\vakkil('Abbasid Caliph),
253, 254, 259, 289-291, 332, 337, 339, 341-345. 347
Mu'tazilite sect, 2-34-233, 279, 281-289, 291-292, 294, 298, 306, 342, 344, 351, 352, 366, 386, 335, 423, 43°, 437
-Mu'tazz ('Abbasid Caliph),
254, 345, 347 Ibnu'l-Mu'tazz (son of the
above), 254, 358, 363 Muthanna b. Haritha (one of
the " Companions " and
early conquerors of Persia),
195 -Muti' ('Abbasid Caliph), 367,
371 Muti' b. Ayas (poet and Mani-
chsean), 307
-Muttaqi('Abbasid Caliph ^364 -Muwaffaq ('Abbasid prince),
254
Muwaffaq, Abu Mansur — (author of old Persian phar- macology), n, 450
-Muwatta (title of two works on Law), 273-274
Muzdawija (= Mathnawi poetry), 476
Mystics, 296-301. See Sufis.
Mystics, Vaughan's classifi- cation of — , 424
N
Nabathaeans, 247, 266, 306,
324, 328 Nabidb (Pate-wine), 285, 329
Xadr b. -Harith -'Abdari, 269 -Nadim -Warraq -Baghdad!
(author of -Fihrist, q.v.),
373, 378. 383 *Nafaliatti'l-Uns (of Jami).
299, 362, 417, 4l8, 423, 425,
437 Nahawand, 79 ; Battle of — ,
200, 247
Nahid (Venus), 461 -Nahrajuri, Abu Ahmad —
(one of the Ikhwann 's-Safa,
<7-^-). 293 Nahr Bashir, 197 Nahruwan, 222, 432 Na'ila('Uthman's.wife), 217 Na'in (dialect), 86 -Najashi (Negush, the ruler
of Abyssinia), 175, 186-188 Najda the Kharijite, 228 Najmu'd-Din-Rawandi, 85 Najran, Christians of — , 175 Nakhshab, 244. 318, 319 -Nami (poet), 370 Napper Tandy (Irish patriot),
34.6
Naqibs (in 'Abbasid propa- ganda), 240 Naqsh-i-Rajab, 44, 151 Naqsh-i-Rustam, 5, 70, 150,
151
Nariman, 116
Narshakhi (historian of Buk- hara), 368 Nasa, 35," 242 -Nasa'-i (traditionist), 351,
363
Nasaf, 244. See also Nakh- shab
-Kashi (poet), 370 Nasikliit't-Tau'arikli., 170 Nasimi (Turkish poet and
Hurufi), 423-424 Na'sii'-i-Khusraw, 86, 268, 278,
295, 3S9, 399, 4°°, 4<> J, 437,
462
Nasiru'd-Din Qubacha, 450 Nasiru'd-Din Shah Qajar, 172 Nasiru'1-Haqq (Sayyid ruler
of Tabaristan), 207 Nasr I b. Ahmad (Samanid),
352 Nasr II b. Ahmad (Samanid),
13, 16, 359, 365, 456, 458 Nasr b. Sayyar (Umayyad
governor of Khurasan),
232, 241-244, 265 Ibn Nasr -Qushuri, 433 Abu Nasr -Karabi, 368 Abu Nasr -Dharifi (Samanid
poet), 365
Abu Nasr, Shaykh — , 446 Nassau Lees, Capt. — , 299 Nat' (executioner's carpet),
435
Natanz, 26 Natiq (in Isma'ili system),
408, 409, 413, 414 Natural Science, 289 Nawbahar (in Balkh), 257 Nawbandajan, 364 Naw-ruz, 114, 259, 475
INDEX
513
Nazar, -'Aziz Abu Mansur — (Fatimld Caliph), 371
Nazuk (Captain of the Guard), 435
Nehemiah, 61
-Nejashi (= -Najashi, q. v.), 175, 186-188.
N'ejran (=• Kajran, q. v.), 175
Neo-Platonists, 96, 167, 300, 301, 304, 381, 420-421, 441
Neo-Pythagoreans, 381
Neriosengh, 63, 67, 68, 106
Newcastle, Coals to — , 456
Ni?aya, 32, 35
Nicholson, K. A. — , 167, ."99, 420, 421, 440
Nidhami -'Arudi -Samarqandi (author of Chahar Maqala, q.v.), 15-17, 317, 449, 456, 470
Nidhami of Ganja, 15, 18, 52, 1 19
Nidhamiyya College, 293
Nidhanni'1-Mulk, 169, 171, 172, 312-314, 328, 349, 353, 401, 456
Niebuhr, 59, 62
+Nikayat*l-lrabfiA)tkbarfl- Funwa'l-'Arab, 183
lfiki-nama (poem in Tabari dialect), 478
Nile, 400
Nine (number), 410
Nineteen (number), 98, 100, 101
Nineveh, 21
Niratigistait, 99, 102
Nirvana, 443
Nishapur, 12, 244, 308, 309, 314. 347, 35i. 355, 368. 4<», 428, 445
Noah, 114, 320, 408, 409, 430
Noble, Sons of the — (Banul- Ahrar), 181,
*N61deke, Prof. Th. — , 6, 9, 10, 22, 24, 70, 75, 106, 108, 109, in, 115, 117, 120-123, 129, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 145, 146, 150, 152, 154, 166, 168, 170, 180, 183, 188, 221, 241, 262, 302, 312, 332, 347, 349, 35°. 353, 459, 4<«
Nominalism, 294
Normans, 95
Xorthumbria, 5
Nosks (of Avesta), 21, 97-99, 108
" Nouer 1'aiguilette," 366
Ibn Nubata, 373
Nudhar, 121
Nudnud (Babak's execu- tioner), 329
Nufayl, 177
Nuh. See Noah
Nuh I b. Nasr II (Samanid), 3'J5
Nuh II b. Mansur (Samanid), J23, 371. 374. 375. 460- 4&3
Nu'man, King of Hira, 264
Numbers. Signification of — , 310, 408. See also Sei-en.
Nui-u'd-Din (Atabek of Syria), 400
Nuru'llah . . . Mar'ashi- Shushtari, 349
Nusayri Sect, 203, 304, 395
Nushinvan (Anushak-rubano, Khusraw-i-Kawatan), 12, 107, 108, 1 10, 128-129, 131, HZ. 133 (why so entitled), 138-137, 188-172, 173, 174. 179, 181-182, 194, 301, 90S. 347, «9, «21
Abu Nu\yas (poet), 277
-Nuwayri (historian), 410, 411
Nuwikath, 164
Nyayish(Zoroastrian prayers), "101
O
Oath of Allegiance, Isma'ili
—,4i3 Occultation (Ghaybat) of
Imam, 310, 352 Occult Sciences, 274, 276, 374 Oculists, Biography of —, 368 Odatis, 121 " Old Bactrian " (or " Zend ")
language, 25, 78. See
Avestic " Old Man of the Mountain "
(Shaykhu'l-Jabal), 396 Old Persian language and
inscriptions, 7,23, 24, 39, 43,
44, 56, 89-88, 67, 78-80, 82,
88, 89, 91-95 Olearius, 42 Olshausen, 19. 79 Omar. See 'Uniar Oneiromancy, 274 Oppert, 23, 24, 64, 65, 78 Oracles, 190 Oral tradition, 251 Oriental Studies in Europe,
History of — , 39 et seqq. Origen, 293 Ormazd, 25. See Alnira
Mazda, Hurmazd " Orthodox Caliphs " (al-
Khulafa'u'r-R as hi An «),
I88-I8I), 194, 210, 212, 224, 388, 417
Orthodox Reaction, 255, 290- 291. See also Astra ii
Oshederbarni (Oshederma), Zoroastrian Messiah, 246
Ossetic, 83
Ostend, 49
Ottoman, Poetrv, History of — , by E. J. W. Gibb, 390,
Otton
man Sultans' claim to
Caliphate, 209, 343 Oudh, Catalogue of MSS. of
King of — , 452 Ouseley, 71 Oxford, 40, 41, 48-10 Oxus, iC, 189, 318 *
Pahlapat, 15. See Barbatl Pahlawi inscriptions, 7, 44, 57, 58, 60-61, 70-72, 91, 93,
34
131-183: language, 7, 10-11.
37, 56. 09, 79-81, 205-206 ;
— literature, 7-8, 9, 68, 81-
82, 89, 91, 109-110, 117, 118,
121-123, 165, 168, 169, 340 ;
" Modern — " (" Pehlevi-
Musulman " of Huart), 28-
88, 80-81, 86-87 : — script,
7-10, 66-67, 78-77, 80, 81-62,
152, 165, 205-206 Palestine, 245 Palmer, Professor E. H. — ,
254.255 Pamirs, 25, 35 Panah-Khusraw (Fana-Khus-
raw), 448
Panjab, 33, 35, 376 Pantheism, 297, 300, 427, 428,
436. 438-444 Papak (father olAttakhshatr-
i-Papakan or Ardaslih
Babakan, q.v.), 70, 71, 93
122, 137, I39-I42. 153 Paraclete, 395 " Paradise of Oght " (Mani
chaean), 161
Paris, 40, 41, 45, 447, 464 Parsa, 4, 26, 32, 105, 128, 137,
139, 143, 17°, «oo, 264, 347,
360. See also Pars, Penis Pars! (Parsee), 4, 25, 42, 69,
72, 96, 102, 206. See Gnebre,
Afagian, Zoroastrian "Parsi language," 81, 82 Parthia (Parthava, Pahlava,
Fahla), 5, 36, 79, 94 Parthians, 5, 41, 79, 81, 90, 96,,
103, in, 119, 121, 136, 137,
154. 158 Parwiz, Khusraw — , 6, 12, 15,
17, 10% 122, 129, 174, 181,
182, 183, 194, 218, 266, 269 Pashmiua-push(" Wool-clad "
=Sufi), 297, 417 Pashto (Pakhto), 28 " Passing of Shahr-banu," 131 Pataka, Patecius, IlariKtOf,
Patricius, 157 "Path" (Tariqat) of the
Sufis, 441
Paulus, H. E. G. — , 54 Payne, John — , 444 Pazend, 69, 77, 61, 82, ior,
106, 107 Pazawari, Amir — (Mazan-
darani poet), 83 " Pehlevi - Husulman " (of
Huart), 26, 27. See also
Pahlawi, Modern — Pentateuch, 29, 113, 479 de Perceval, Caussin — ,212 Persse (of ^Eschylus), 91 Persepolis, 5, 56, 62, 64, 66, 70
93, 112-113, «8, 153 Persian contributions to
Arabic Literature and
Science, 3-4, 204, 275, 278,
445-448 Persian influence on Arabs,
251. 252, 255, 260, 278, 300 Persian language, 5-7, and
passim
5'4
INDEX
Persian literature, Birth of modern — , 11-14, 340-341
Persian Martyrs, Acts of the — . See^cfc
" Persian," Meaning of the term — , 4-5
Persian scholar, Qualifi- cations of — , 377
Ufpaixol /8t/3Xot, 122
Persls (=Parsa, Fan, q.v.),
4. 5, 25, 3°. 79, 105 Pertsch, 449, 452 Petermann, 302 Pharaoh, 333, 334, 440 Pharmacology. Phatecius, 157 " Phil-Hellenes," 79 Philip III of France, 40 Philip of Macedon, 119 Philo-Judaus, 97, 381 Philology, Arabic — , 260, 269,
270, 275 Philology, Dangers of — , 36-
" Philosopher of the Arabs,"
356. Seea«K«d« Philosophers, Neo-PIatonist
— in Persia, 167 Philosophy, 284, 288-289, 292-
294, 304-307, 363, 364- 378-
881, 437 Photius, 21
Phraortes (Fravartlsh), 21 Pigeons, Carrier — , 396 Pindar (or Bundar) of Ray,
85, 86, 348, 437 Pir (spiritual director), 424 Piruz (Peroz, Firuz), 75, 121,
158 Piruz - i - Gushnaspdeh, 174,
182
Pjshawar, 372 Pishdadi Dynastj', 55, III-
"5, "9
Pisiyauvada, 31 Pits, People of the — , 175 Plato, 167 Plerpma, 408, 410 Plotinus, 420 Pluto, 114 Pococke, 41 Poetry, Origins of Persian — ,
12-15, 18, no Pognon, M. — , 302 " Point " (Nuqta), 98 Polak, 26, 27, 172 Poll-tax, 201. See Jizya Polo, 138 ; bat, crescent
moon compared to — , 463 Polygamy, 186, 288 Polyhistor, 21 " Polyphony," 72 Polytheists (Mushrikun),
Mu'tazilites call their oppo- nents — , 281 Pondichery, 46 Porphyry, 420 Portents of Fall of Persian
Empire, 173 Portsmouth, 48 Portuguese, 302 Postel, William — , 40
Predestination, 281-283, 285-
286, 386 " Pre-existent " (in Isma'ili
sj'stem), 414 Primal Matter (Hayyula),
408-409
Priscian (Neo-PIatonist Philo- sopher), 421 Procopius, 169 Profanation of Tombs, 245 Proper names Arabicized, 263 Prosody, 275, 389, 471-474 Psalms of David, 113 Pseudo-Callisthenes, 118 Pseudo Sabreans of Hat ran
(q.v.), 301-306 Ptolemy, 381 Pulwar River, 70 Puran - Dukht (Sasanian
Queen), 174, 182 Puran, daughter of Hasan b.
Sahl, and wife of al-
Ma'mun, 255 Puritans, 37 Putiya, 94
Qaba'il = " Arabs " - (as op- posed to Shu'ub, " Gen- tiles "), 265 Qabus b. Washmgir, 371, 446,
466, 469, 470-471 Qabusiyya Dynastj', 207 Qadariyya sect, 279, 281-28-5 -Qaddah. See 'Abdtt'llah b.
Maymun
Qadisij'ya, Battle of — , 6, 117, 174, 182, 195-197, 200, 202,
221, 247
eahir ('Abbasid Caliph), 364 ahira. See Cairo Qahtaba, 244 -Qa'im (= -Sfaftdi, q.v.), 408,
414 -Qa'im (Fntimid Caliph), 403
eajar, 207 alansuwa (Persian hat, pi.
Qalanis), 259, 330 Qaren, 121
Qarmat, Hamdan — , 396 Qarmati, Qirmati, 40!$. See
Cannathians, Isma'ilis, Sect
of the Seven Qasida, 472, 474 -Qasim b. Burhan, 208 Abu'l-Qasim b. Abu'l-'Abbas,
467
Abu'l-Qasim -Dinawari, 365 Abu'l-Qasim Hibatti'Uah b.
Sina'u'1-Mulk, 321 Qp.sr-i-Shirin, 12 Qatran of Tabriz (Persian
poet), 86, 462 Qazwin, 80, 86, 325 *-Qaz\vini (geographer), 14,
157, 257-288, 819-320, 323 Qissisun (class of Mani-
chaeans), 164
Hit'a, 472, 474 iwami of Ray (Persian poet), 437
Qiyara (the upright position
in Prayer), 412
ohrud (dialect), 26, 27, 80, 86
uakers, 297, 417
uatrain, 18. See Kuba'i
uatremere, 76, 399 jubad (or Kavad, q.v.), 134 -Qubawi (translator of Xar-
shakhi), 368 Quhyar (brother of Uazvar,
9-v.), 334
Quietism, 297, 300, 427, 428 Qum, History of — , 374 Qumis, 314, 448 Qumri of Gurgan, Abu'l-
Qasim Ziyad b. Muhammad
— (Persian poet), 453, 466 -Qunna'i (disciple of -Hallaj),
43i '•'Qur'an, 12, 98, 102, 113, 119,*
166. 175,* 178,* 187, 191*,
200, 201,* 206, 213,* 217, 219,
220, 221, 228, 230*. 231, 236,
242, 260, 261, 265, 270, 271,
272, 274, 288, 289, 293, 303,
320,* 333,* 347, 357, 3<56, 374- 377. 379, 385, 387, 388, 406, 412-414,* 418, 432, 435, 442, 467, 477 ; — , created or un- create, 284-285, 287, 290, 295 Quraysh, 177, 213, 214, 216,
221, 260, 261, 264, 267, 295 QurratuVAyn (the Babi
heroine), 172 -Qushayri, 297 Qushuri, Ibn Nasr — , 433 Quss Bahrain, 396 Qussu'n-Natif, Battle of —
200
Qusta b. Luqa, 278, 306, 345 Ibn Qutayba, 15, no, 169, 26j,
268, 277, 324, 3»7, 387-388,
447 Qutrub, 277
Rabi'a (Tribe of), 242
Rabi'a-Adawiyya, 299, 300, 418, 424, 426 "
Rabshekeh, 66
Racial feeling, 114, 232-2^3, 242, 264-265 See also Sub- ject Races
-Radi ('Abbasid Caliph), 364
-Radi, -Sharif — (poet), 448
-Raffa' (poet), 370
Rafidi (pi. Rawafid), 314. 360- 361. See Ghttlat, Sect of the Seven, Sect of the Twelve, Shi'ites, &c. fe
Rafsinjan, 87.
'Payat, 35- See Ranlia, Ray
Rajaz (form of verse), 173
Rajputs, 372
Rakhsh, 316, 317
Ram (typifying the Farr-i- Kayant, or "Royal Splen- dour "), 137
Ram (Festival of — ), 259, 475
INDEX
515
Ram Hurmuz (or -Hurmazd),
J57.347.368 Ranha, 26, 35. See Ray.
Raqqa, 276
Rashid'
:udi of Samarqand (Per- sian poet), 457
Rashidu'd-Din Fadlu'llati (Persian historian), 392
Rashidu'd-Din Sinan (grand master of the Syrian Assassins), 396
"Ravens" (Blacks), 179
Rawand (place), 315
Rawandiyya or Rawandis, 24°. 315-316
Rawfaryad, 162
Rawlinson. 63, 91, 92
Rawnaqi (Persian poet), 468
Rawdatu's-Safa (Persian his- tory), 170
Kay, 23, 32, 35, 79, 85, 86, 109, 131, 132, 137, M3, '45, 247, 313. 314. 350, 428, 448
Abu Ravhan. See -liiitini
-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Zakariyya (physician ), known in Europe as Rhazes, 363
" Readers " (Qurra), 228
Realism, 294
Recurrence of Ideas in Persia, 98-99, ico-ioi
Red as a badge, 311, 312. See Muhainmira
Red Cross Knights, 480
Reid (missionary so named), 270
Re-incarnation, 311. See Return, Rij'at, Metempsy- chosis
Religion, Eastern and West- ern conceptions of — , 405- 406
Religions Systems of the World (work of reference), 439, 442,444
Remanatio, 380'
Renaissance, Persian — , 352, 375-376, 465
" Renegades " (Ahlu'r-Ridda), 194
"Return" (Rij'at), 310-311,
3*3, 327-328, 363, 435 Rhag», 26. See Ray Rhazes, 363. See -Razi
Rhetoric, 380, 473 Rich, Claude I. — , 64 Richardson (Persian lexico- grapher), 57
Rida, Imam 'All — , 284, 429 Rida-quli Khan (Persian his- torian and writer), 170, 312,
449 Rida-quli Khan of Behbehan
(dialect poet), 87 -Rida, -Sharif — , 207. See
-Radi
Rieu, 54, 450 Rila b. -Walid -Isfahan
(Samanid po«t), 365 Hij'at. See Return, Ueletn
psychoiit.
?isala-i-Hawraiyya, 416 tisala-i-Qushaynyya, 417 Rivayats (Zoroastrian), 48,
i°5 Roman, Alexander the — , 118,
139. See also Ale.vandfi-
the Great. Romans, 305 Rome, 40, 382, 472 Rope-trick, 431 Rosen, Baron Victor — , 15 Rosenzwcig, 444 Rosenzweig-Schwannau, 361 Roth, 68
Royal Splendour" (Farr-i-
Kayani), 128, 137, 143, 144 Ruba'i, 472-473, 476. See
Quatrain Ruckert, 389 *Rudagi (Persian poet), 13,
19-17, 82, 340, 398-396, 359,
368, 452, 454, W5-488, 473 Rue (sipand), used as a fumi- gation against the Evil Eye,
452 Ru'in Dizh ("the Brazen
Fortress"), 147 Rn'in-tan (epithet of Isfan-
diyar), 150 Ruknu' d-Da\vla (Buwayhid),
364 Ruku' (position in prayer),
412
Rum, 480
Rumi. See Valalu'd-Din Ibnu'r-Rumi (poet), 357 Ruqayya (daughter of the
Prop'hetX 214
Ibn Rushd, 40. See Averroes Rustam (mythical hero), 116,
117, 269; —(general), 117,
182, 194-195, 197-198 -Rustami, Abu Sa'id — (poet),
268, 374 R viands Library, 449, 452
S (Sanskrit) = H, Persian),
34
Sabaans, 302-306, 384, 387 Sabalan (mountain), 325 Sabat Abi Nuh (place), 396 Sabbath = Shanbadh, 160 -Sabi ("the Sabaian"), Ibra- him b. Hilal — , 372 Sab'i, Sab'iyya, 407. See
Isma'ilis, Sect of the Seven,
&c. -Sabiq (" the Pre-Existent "),
414
Sabuklagin, 371, 372, 376 Sachau, Dr. E. — , 123, 154,
158, 163 169, 247, 308, 318,
352, 469
Sacrament of Babak, 327 de Sacy, Silvestre — , 53, 57
58, 59, 61, 63, 70, 71, 393
407, 410-415 Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas, 194, 196-
199,388 Sa'd of Warawiu, 478
Ibn Sa'd (secretary of
-Waqidi), 284. 345 Sadah (Festival of), m Sadaqat (Alms), 201 Sad Dar (Zoroastrian Cate-
chisni), 43, 109 *Sa'di (Persian writer), 52, 85,
139, 145, 294, 343, 389, 423,
137 *Safar-iiama of Nasir-i-
Khnsraw, 80, 400 Safawi Dynasty, 294 -Saffah, 210. See Abu'l-
' Abbas. Saffari Dynasty, 6, 13, 341,
346-349, 352-355, 359, 445,
450, 451, 453, 473 Sag (dog), 26 Sagartia, 33 Saghani (Chaghani) Dynasty,
244 Sagistan (Sistan), Wonders
of — , 109. See also Sistan Sahibu'1-Amr, 414. See also
Mahdi -Sahib Isma'il b. 'Abbad, 374,
375, 446, 453, 4^3, 464, 466,
Sahib'u'1-Khal, 402 Sahibu'n-Xaqa, 402 Sahibu'sh-Shama, 402 Sahibu'sh-Shurta (Captain of
the Guard), 432 Sahibu'z-Zaman, 408. Sec
also Mahdi
Sahibu'z-Zanadiqa (Inquisi- tor appointed to detect
Manichaeans), 158, 307 -Sahili (of -Bukhari), 351 Sahl b. 'Abdullah of Shushtar
(mystic), 357 Sahl b. Haruu (-Ma'inuu s
librarian), 267 Ibn Sahl. See Hasan b. Sahl
and Fadl b. Sahl Abu Sahl -Nawbakhti, 429 Said [b. 'Abdu'l-'Aziz . . .].
governor of Khurasan, 237 -Sa'id, -Amir — . See Nasr
II b. Ahmad Sa'id b. -'As, 216 Sa'id b. Batriq, 366. Sec
Euiychiits Said, grandson of -Oaddah,
409. See 'Ubaydu'llah
-Mahdi
Sa'id -Harashi (general), 322 Sa'id b. -Musayyib (tra-
ditionist), 273 Abu Sa'id b. Abu'l- Khayr
(Persian mystic and poet),
371, 416, 437 Abu Sa'id Hasan b. Bahrain,
402. See -yannabi. Abu Sa'id Muhammad b.
Mudhaffar b. Muhtaj -Sa-
ghani (Chaghani), 461 Abu Sa'id -Naqqash (author
of a History of tke Sufis),
436 Abu Sa'id -Rustami (poet),
268,374
INDEX
Saint-Martin, 65
-Saji, Abu 'Ali — (poet). 475
-Sajjad. Sec Zaywi'l-'Abidin
Saka, 94
Sakisa (harper), 18
Sal'a, 192
Saladin (Salahu'd-Din), 54,
o?98 Salamanca, 40
Salamiyya (in Syria), 40
Sale's Alcoran, 187, 188
Salemann, 70, 83, 107, 479
Salih (prophet), 387
Salth (Persian accountant), 205
Salih b. 'Abdu'l-Quddus(poet), 307
Abu Salik of Gurgan (Persian poet), 355, 453
Salisbury, E. — , 203
Salm, 115, 116, 128
Abu Salma (Abbasid propa- gandist), 243, 246, 257
Salman the Persian, 203, 204, 297
Salman Sawaji (Persian poet), 437
Sahvtonassar-Sargon, 20
Salsette, 103
Sam. See Shan
Sam (the son of Xariman), 116
Saman, 207, 352, 461, 467, 468
Samani, Dynasty, 6, 15, 16, 123, 207, 317, 34i, 346, 348, 352, 354, 355. 358. 359, 363, 365, 367, 368, 371, 372, 374- 3/6, 396, 445. 446, 45°, 451, 453, 455, 456, 460, 461. 463, 465, 467- 474, 477
-Sam'ani, 456
Samaria, 20
Samarqand, 164, 456,
Samarra, 342. See Surra- man-ra'a
Samawa, Vale of — , 174
Sam it (in Isma'ili system),
409, 413
Samma' ("Listener," "Audi- tor," a grade of the Mani- chjeans), 159, 165
Samnan, 86
San'a (in -Yaman), 176, 273
Sana'i (Persian mystical poet), 416, 437
Sanam (stronghold of -3fu- qanna', q.v.), 321
Sani'a (a governor's follow- ing), 233
Snnjan, Story of—, 47, 109
Sanskrit, 34, 37, 56, 59, 63, 64, 67-69, 89, 106, 167, 419, 477
Sapid -Jamagan(" the White- clad"), 318. See -Mubay- yida.
Sara, Saraw (in Azarbayjan), 325
Sarakhs, 35, 244
Sargon, ai
Abu Sarh, 216
Sari -Raffa (poet), 306-307,
Sarv (or Sun-), 115
|
-Sarvi (or-Sarwi), Abu'l-'Ala— |
Shabib b. Dah (one of Abu |
|
(poet), 476 |
Muslim's da'isj, 310 |
|
Sasan, 117, n8, 122, 137, 139- |
Shabib b. Yazid-Shaybani, 232 |
|
142, 268 |
Shabistari, Mahmud — (author |
|
Sasanian Dynasty, 4-7, 9-12, |
of the Gttlslian-i-RtK), 444 |
|
14-18, 31, 36, 87, 39, 97-88, |
Shaburqan (book of Manes |
|
61, 67, 70-71, 78, 79, 89, 91, |
composed for Shapur), 154, |
|
93, 96, 97, 103, 104, 108, 111, |
156, 158, 163, 165 |
|
117-122, 127-184, 212, 229, |
-Shafi'i, -Imam — , 277, 295, 386 |
|
283, 299, 262, 309, 364, 388, |
Shafi'ite school, 294-295 |
|
392, 419, 480 |
Shahan-shah, Title of — , 66, |
|
Satagydae, 94 |
7i, 75, 76 |
|
Satih (soothsayer), 173-174 |
*Shahid of Balkh (Persian |
|
Saturn (planet), 458, 461 |
poet), 453, 484, 455 |
|
Savary de Breves, 41 |
Shah-i-Zanan, 131. See |
|
Sawa, Lake of — , 173-174 ; |
Shahtbamt. |
|
— Town, 244 |
*Shahnama (" Book of |
|
Sawad, 196. See Chaldaa |
Kings ") of Firdawsi, I s, 60, |
|
Sawad b. 'Amr, 192 |
79, 88, 108, 110-123, '136 |
|
Saxons, 5 Sayce, Professor — . 64 |
138, 140-142, 144-149, 147 190, 151, 166, 169, 872, 460, |
|
Sayf b. Dhu Yazan, 178-181, |
464 ; Arabic translation of |
|
262 |
— by-Bundari, 43, us 464 ; |
|
Sayfu'd-Dawla, 370-372, 446 |
of Daqiqi, 372, 460, 473 : |
|
Saysaniyya (Bih-afaridh's |
other Persian versions of |
|
followers so called), 310 |
— , 123 ; — of Gushtasp |
|
-Sayyid-Himyari, 276 Savyidu't-Ta''ifa (Junayd so |
(= Yatkar-i-Zariran, q.v.), 1 08. See also Kluiday-nama |
|
called), 427 |
Shah-Parand (grand-daughter |
|
Sayyids, 101 |
of Yazdigird III), 317-318 |
|
Schefer, 85, 86, 169, 171, 312, |
-Shahrazuri (biographer of |
|
313. 353, 374, 400, 456, 478 |
Philosophers), 293 |
|
Schmidt, C. — , 160 |
Shahr-banu, Bibi — (daughter |
|
Schmolders, 212 |
of Yazdigird III, said to |
|
Scholastic Philosophy, 381, |
have been married to -Hu- |
|
382, 386, 422 |
sayn b. 'Ali, the Third |
|
Schultz, 63 |
Imam, and therefore called |
|
Sciences, Classification of — , |
" Mother of Nine Imans "), |
|
379-383 |
130-133 |
|
Scorpion, Tresses compared |
Shahr-baraz (usurper), 129, |
|
to — , 461 |
174, 182 |
|
Scot, Michael — , 40 |
Shahr-gir, 147, 150 |
|
Scotch and English, 33 |
*Shahristani (author cf tlie |
|
Script and creed associated |
Kitabu'l-Milal it-a '/i-.Y;/,-.// >. |
|
in East, 8-9 |
199, 169, 220, 221, 279, 289, |
|
Sebeos, 168 |
296, 310-311, 312, 313, 3M, |
|
"Sect of the Seven," 130, 229. |
322, 323, 328, 396, 420 |
|
296, 352, 391-415. See also |
Shahriyar (father of Yazdi- |
|
Carmathians, Ghulat, 7s- |
gird III), 195 |
|
ma'His,P'athnidCaliphs,&c. |
Shakespear, 13, 82 |
|
"Sect of the Twelve," 130, |
Shakir (da'i of -Hallai, q.v.), |
|
229. 246, 283, 296, 302, 393, |
431 |
|
413, 429 See Shi'iks. |
Ibn Shakir, 331 |
|
Sects of Islam, 279. See also |
Abu Shala'la, 397 |
|
Ibn Haztn, -Shahristani |
Shamanists, 163 |
|
Seleucidse, 480 |
Shamsa (in Pahlawi), 58 |
|
Seligmann, 12, 450, 478 Selim I (Ottoman Sultan), 209 |
Shams-i-Qays (Persian writer on Prosody and Rhvme), |
|
Seljuqi Dynasty, 6, 312, 348, |
473 |
|
449, 451' 464. "474 |
Shams-i-Tabriz (Persian mys- |
|
Semitic influences on Per- |
tic and poet), 167, 420, 440 |
|
sians, 36, 37 |
Shamsu'd - Din - Andakhudi |
|
Sennacharib, 20 |
(author of an Anthology of |
|
Ibn Serapion, 367 |
" post-classical " Arabic |
|
Serpent, World compared to — 467 |
poets), 448 Shamsu'd-Din Iltatniish, 450 |
|
Seth, 162 |
Shamsu'l-Ma'ali. See Qabiis |
|
Seven, The Number — , 146, |
b. Washmgir |
|
310, 408-412 |
Shanbadh (= Sabbath), 160 |
|
Severus, Bishop — , 399 Shabdiz (horse of Khusraw |
Shapur (place in Pars), 123,151 Shapur 1, 10, 93, 103, 138, 150- |
|
Parwlz), 17, 18 |
159.266 |
INDEX
Shapur II, 75. <xi. o" 101 Shaqiq of lialkh (mystic), 290 -Sha'rani (rfa'i of" -Hullar.
q-v.), 435 Shargh (or Targh ? = Chakhra
of Vendidad), 35 -Sharif-i-Mujallidi (Persian
poet), 15, 18 Ibn Sharwin (Prince of Taba-
ristan), 329 Shathil (Seth), i«>2 -Shaybani, 'AH b. Harun —
(Samanid poet), 365 -Shaykhu'l-Yunani, Plotinus
so called by the Muslims,
430
Shea, 54 Sheba. Queen of — , 385. See
Bilqi*.
Shell, Lady — , 312 Shekina, 128 Shcm, 114, 116, 409 -Shibli (Sufi), 298, 367. 433, 434 Shibl b. -Munaqqa-Azdi, 32* Shid(=Khshaeta), 113 Shihabu'd-Din Suhrawardi,
423
Shi'ites. 98, 100, 101, 130, 131, 203, 214, 220, 228-229, 231, 232, 888. 238 240, 243, 248 247, 398, 276, 278, 279-280, 283 285, 292, 296-296, 310 311, 3M> 315. 328, 342-343, 345- 348, 349, 350, 382, 358, 360, 362-363, 364, 367, 375, 386, 391-415 passim, 4*9. 43O, 437. See also Carmathians, Fatimiit Calif>ln, Ghulat, hmn'ilis, "Sect of the Seven," "Sect of the Twelve"
Shikand-guntanik-vijar (Pah- lawi book), 106, 157
Shimr, 225, 226, 228, 230
Shi'r (Poetry), Etymology of the word, 451
Shiraz, 19, 70, 85. 364, 437
Sblrin (mistress of Khusraw Parwiz), 17
Shirin (Sirin), ouc of the captives of Jalula and his sons, 204, 263
Shiru'e, 56, 113, 174, 181 Abu Shu'ayb Salih b. Mu- hammad of Herat (Persian poet), 454
*Abu Shukur of Balkh (Per- sian poet), 466-407
Shurat (".Sellers" of their lives), 221. See Kltarijites
Shushtar, 434
Shu'ubiyya, 265-269, 277 278, 336, 345. 357
Sibawayhi i (grammarian), 261, 276-278
Si-bokht, 146
Siddhanta ( = Sindhind), i-o
-Siddiq (name of a class of Manichxans and origin of name Zindiq, q.v.), 160, 165
Sidra Rabba (book of Man- daeans), 302
Sifatiyya (sect), 879
Sitiin. Battle of — , 218-119,
221
Sifru'l-Asfar ( M a u i c h x a n
book), 156 Sifni' l-yababira (Manichaean
"book), 156 Signacula oris, manuum et
sinus, 165 Sikandar- (or Iskandar-)
fiama of Xidhami of
Ganja, 119 Ibnu's- Sikkit (grammarian
and Shi'ite), 343, 345 Silhin (fortress in -Yaman),
175 -Simari (disciple of -Hallaj),
431-432 Simjur, 466
Simplicius (\co-Platonist),42I Simurgh (mythical bird), 121 Ibn Sina, 40. See Avicenna Sinan, Abu Sa'id Harrani,
304
Sinan b. Thabit b. Qurra, 367 Sinbadh the Magian, 311, 313,
3M. 323
Sind (=Hincl), 34, 347 Sindhind (^Suldhaiita), 160 Sinimmar (Sinnimar), 175 Sipand (=Rue, q.v.), 452 Sipihri (Persian poet), 468 Siqadanj (near Merv), 242 Sirafi (grammarian), 372 -Sirat, Bridge of — , 107 Sirawand (near Xishapur), 308 Sirri JSaqati (Suf i), 424 Si-riua (Zoroaslrian), 48, 101 Si stan (Sagistan, Sajistan), 87,
100, 116, 117, 123, 205, 317,
346, 347, 350, 359, 448
Siwand (dialect of — ), 26-27, 87
Siyamak, 112
Siyaq (form of cypher), 67
*Siyasat-natna ("Treatise on Government ") of the Nidh- amu'1-Mulk, 169, 171-172, 312, 313, 323, 324, 328, 349, 383, 401, 456
Skudra, 94
de Slane, Baron McGuckin— , 208, 320. See Ibn Khallikait
Slavery, 186
Smerdes (=Bardiya), 31, 32
Social Code of Zoroastrians, 1 08
Socialism, 170
Socin, 83
Solomon, 112-114, 385
Sol-takin, 263
"Sons of Tenderncs>." 164; " — of Knowledge," 164 ; " — of Understanding," 164-165; "—of the Un- seen," 165 ; " — of Intelli- gence," 165. See also Mani- clutans, who are divided into these live grades
"Sons of the Nobles" (Ratw'l-Ahrar), Persian Settlers In -Yaman so named, 181
Sophists, 381
<ro<f>o£ , 269, 417
Spain, o, a'5- ^5 -5«. 266,
279, 294. 34", 38i
Trcuea (Medic word for
" dog "), 26 Span (Avestic word for
"dog"), 26 Spada, 64, 94 Spencer, Mr. — . 47, So Spendedat (Isfandiyadh, Is-
fandiyar), 116 Spiegel", 33. 3$, 62, 63, 66, 68,
91, 116, 155, 161, 162 Spitta, 290, 291 Sprenger, 188, 452 Sstt/wmt/s (by Tholuck), 362 Stakhar Papakano(= Istakhr),
97, 118, 139 Stanley Lane-Poole, 214, 254.
See also Lane-Poole Steiner, 279, 281, 280, 288, 289,
293
Steinschneider, 368 Stolze, 64, 153 SM-yasht, 97 Strabo, 5
2rj>6uxa«/C. 23--4 Stylite, Joshua the — , 134 Subject Races, 235 237. 241.
247. See also Mtncali.
Racial Feflinf "Sub-Parthian," coins, 80 "Subsequent" (in Isma'ili
System), 414 Suf ("wool"), 297 Sufi System, Brief outline of
— , 438-444 Sufis, 167-168, 282, 293, 296
301, 352, 361-363, 367, 373,
386, 416-444 Sufis, History of—, by Abu
Sa'id-Naqqash, 436 Sufyan-Thawri (Sufi), 417,
418, 424-426, 434 Abu Sufyan, 215, 261 Sughd, 35, 04, 164, 268, 322,
33L 333
Suhrab (Rustam's son), 116 SuhraV, 325
Suhuf(of Abraham), 113 Sujud (position in Prayer),
412
Ibn Sukkara, 348 -Sukkari (philologist), 357 -Sukkari, Abu'1-Fadl— (poet),
476 -Sulafa (one of the names
given to Shahr-banu, q.v.).
13'
Sulayman Mountains, 372 Sulayman. See Solomon Sulayman (Umayyad Caliph),
215 Sulayman b. 'All (uncle of
-Saffah, the first 'Abbasid
Caliph), 254 Abu sulayman Muhammad
b. Nasr'-Busti -Muqadda*!
(one of the Ikhu-anus-Saf*,
?-V.), 293
INDEX
Tmmm \\rnt S** Tm
~rt»mim (fa*i «•!
uft SeeahoTw Tafcfcarirtas. a**. K7 TV (KM of Feridnx "5- n&
INDEX
519
nian and (keck character.
Turkish peoples, Persian literature produced by — , 3 ; antipathy bttvtu — and Persians, 1*6, zaB, *£.
Turktstan, 434
TVS (town in Khurasan V 123 ;
— identified with Unra of
theATesU Twelve Gospels (MantchaeuX
156 Twelve, The Nosaber — , 408,
414
Tychsen. 57. 58, 60,61, 71 Typal Love, 442 Typofraphy. Oriental — , 41
U
•Ubayd-i-Zakani (Persian
satirical poet). ?Sc. Abu ' Ubayda -Jarrab, 297 Abu' -Ubayda Ma-mar b.
•Muthanna (Iranophile
_-«- -•_ -* -+- ^ *
scnoiar), 309, 277
the [Fatimid]
b. fibril b. t-Yishn' (physicianX
•uSjdaTlah b. 'Umar, 215
•OTMsaififsai (Zoroastrian 109
SeeGteJW
of the Ancients ^414 •Uman. aoi. 359 •Umar b. -ln«?Jt^t' (Orthodox
CattphX S«. 130, 133. 174. 104,
I9& 196. 199. aoa, aoi aos
aio, 213. ai4, ais 229, 235.
a*X 897, 34$, $49, 391, 437,
452 •Umar b. •Abdnl-Azis lUmay-
yad CafiphX 215. 219. 254-
••Umara, Abu Manser — of
Merr (Persian poetX 467 •Umayr (officer of -Abdul-
Umayya. j'u
Unuyyad Ci'.:phi. ic; :r;
MS *4S
Uatty (Wahid-. 19 in Babi Unmrsai Reason Unirersal
- of
OJnrari (Persian poet).
Iba
(!*>*•••• Bl
•Urfa, 134
Una (oTVendid
Ushhanj.iw.
Uthmooayn, Bbbopnc of — ,
(htrabrchX *47.
-•Utbi
194. 195. *io. aia-aiiX aao,
-Urbmaa "Said b
v.-:er . -xt* "a£*" Sayyid — of Tabaris-
ur (of Ibn QataybaX 15. »77
Vach- (roofj. 17 Vaekereta(of VeadUM, iden-
tined with KatoIX 35 Valerian (Emperor), 151 Van. 63
VanWwn (dialect of —X 27 »Van \1oten.
*1
Varena.Tbeu
— . an, 3S 114 Vatican (Library X 450 Vaughan's Hcurt wiOt Ac
y ;cc. ;c:,
Vegetarianism
ancient Persians. 115 Vehrkana(Hyrcania.Gflr9mX
419
•'Veiled Prophet of Khun- san.' H7. y&-3*3- See -Xmqiuuut'.
Vendidad, as 16. aR. 34, 44,
4>47 .48. 97-9* 141. «>9
Vtuus ,A:iir::a. X..:::.:, M
Ml
4 5-465 4"
\TcarofBray.sJo
CP
Society. 444
.-f :5:e 1 -irk* ^by -Jahidh oa — v 351
fa «x.X aSTfiiToa, 95-05.
116, 144
\lsperad, A 09 ^ Viranha. vlianjhan, 114
viv.ikt:li QMin^ n
Vbaer. See If «tf r. Voha-mano, 97, 117. See also
Ibn Wadih. 150. See -Tm Wahb b. Munabbih, a?3 Wakkabisect.aai WaWd (Babi -Unity 'of 19).
rbnrt.WahskiTya.3S7
-Waod4(UmaTyad CaiphX "5.J3I.317 bL^qba, 216.118
'Wj*«**| **• •AbdTBah
. Vsosw ] Wamiq: of— ,12.347 _
JJ4-
dUteUirianX sol. «T7.
Wasil bL-Ata-Ghasa: of Mi
.J4=
-Wasit (town), joa. 349, 435. •Wathiq CAbbasid CaiphX
of-
Wea. Dt Gnstar — . 211. 27* Wessex.5
West Dr: E. W. -k 57, 59. fit, 70. 81. oS. 103-106. 109. 151. 159.169 \VcstfT£xard. 43. 64. «B
—.10.4*
of —. Sec
WoWe TQM (Irish patriot.X
52O
INDEX
Wool typifying renunciation, 297, 417, '430. See Pashnuna- tiusli, Sttfi
world compared to snake, 467
"World-wise" (Hakimatu'd- Dahr in Manichrean sys- tem), 162
Worm of Kirman, 138, 145- 150
Wright, Dr. W. — , 134, 169, 191, 221, 375
Writing, Art of —amongst ancient Arabs, 261 ; — amongst ancient Persians, 9 ; — highly valued by Manichreans, 165 ; cf. 431
Wustenfeld, 160, 272, 273, 321, 387
Xenophon, 91
Xerxes, 56, 61, 79, 92, 113
-Yafi'i, 424
Yahya-Barmaki (" the Barme- cide "), 259, 277 Yahya b. Bitriq, 277 Yahya b. Ma'adh of Ray
(mystic), 323, 418 Yahya b. Masawayh, 345 Yahya b. Zayd (g'reat-grand-
son of -Husavn). 122 Abu Yahya Tahir" b. -Fadl
-Sagbani (Chaghani), Amir
—.467 Yaksum (Abyssinian King),
178 Yama (in Hindu mythology),
56, 80, 113 -Yaman (-Yemen), 152, 173-
176, 178, 180, 181, 183, 192,
201, 244, 262, 263, 358, 382,
388, 402, 405 Yaminu'd -Dawla. SeeA/a/t-
miid of Ghaxna Yaminu d - Din Faryumadi
(Persian poet), 437 Ya'qub b. Layth -Satfari, 13,
346-348, 349, 352-354. 473 Ya'qub (grandson of 'Amr b.
Layth -Saffari), 359 *-Ya'qubi (historian), 110,
1S1, 130 181, 155 187, 158,
169, 829, 230, 231, 239, 241,
244, 246, 307. 314, 317, 318,
321, 323, 357-388 Yaqut (geographer), 14, 15,
321 Yasar (Persian captive), 263,
266
Yashts, 97, 100 Yasna, 44, 48, 63, 67, 68, 99
104 Yathrib (ancient name of
-Uutttna, q.v,), 132
(of-Tha1-
alibi),86B-8fl«,368,374, 375.
440-447, 450, 453, IU-M0
470, 474. 475, 4/6 Yaikar-t-Zariran (Pahlawi
romance), 9, 108, 121, 138 Yazd, 26, 27, 83, 86, 109, 343 Yazdan-Gushnasp, 129 Yazdigird I, 135, 166 Yazdigird III,' 6, 120, 122. ISO-
132, 168. 174, 182, 199, 200,
220,817 Yazid I (Umayyad Caliph),
219, 224-238, 228, 230 Yazid II (Umayyad Caliph),
216,283 Yazid III (Umayyad Caliph),
219, 318 Yaiiid b. -Muhallab (general),
263
Yazidi sect (" Devil-worship- pers"), 304
" Year of the Ass," 241 " Year of the Elephant," 173,
174
Yeats (Irish poet), 447 Yellow garments prescribed
for unbelievers, 343. See
also 'Asal-i diikhta Yima (=Yama, Jamshid,
q.v.), 56. 80, 113 Yishu'-bokht, 145 Yudan - Yim (Zoroastnau
priest), 105 Yuhanna b. Masawayhi
(translator), 305 Yusuf-Barm (heresiarch), 247,
3i8 Yusuf b. 'Umar (Governor of
'Iraq), 233 *Yiisufu Znlayklia (of Jami),
439,' 4*2, 444 Abu Yusuf, 349 Abu Yusuf Ya'qub-Ansari
(Hanafite doctor), 276 Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Ishaq
-Kindi, 356. See -Kindi Abu Yusuf-Qati'i, 302
Zab (river), 245, 247
Ibn Zabala (historian of
-Madina), 277 Zabulistan, 116 Zadan, son of Karrukh
(Persian accountant), 205 Zagros Mountains, 19 -Zahi (poet), 370 Zahir (Dhahir) of Faryab
(Persian poet), 389 Zahiri (or Zahirite) school,
357. See also Dhahiri Zahra ("the Bright," i.e.,
Fatima, q.v.), 131, 132 Ibn Abi Zakartyya (heretic),
359. 3<J7 Zal (father of Rustam), 116.
121 Zamakhshari (commentator),
269, 289, 292
Zamzama ("mumbling" of
Magians), 309, 310 Zandakih, 159. See also
Zindiq. Manicluxans Zandaniji (or Zand-pichi),
468 Zanj Rebellion, 349-350, 356,
401
Zanj an (town), 325, 378 -Zanjani (-Zinjani), Abu'l-
Hasan 'Ali b. Harun —
(one of the Ikhwamt 's-
Safa, q.v.), 293 Zaradusht. See Zoroaster Zaradushtakan, Sect of — ,
169. See Matdak Zaratusht. See Zoroaster Zaratusht-Khurragan (master
of Maxdak, q.v.), 169, 170 Zaratitsht-Hama, 43, 109 Zaraiva (old Persian book),
336 Zargun (near Persepolis), 70
Zariadras, Romance of — ,
121
Zarir, Romance of — , 9,
108, 121, 138
Zanvan Akarana (" Bound- less Time "), 414 Zawzan, 308 - Zawzani, Abu 'Ali — (Sama-
nid poet), 365 -Zawzani, Abu Muhammad
'Abdu'1-Kafi — (author of
Hainasatu 'dh-Dhurafa),
454
Zayd-'Alawi, 315 Zaydb. Rifa'a (one of the
Ikhwanu 's-Safa), 293 Abu Zayd (Governor of
'Uman), 201
Abu Zayd - Balkhi (geo- grapher), 372 Zaydan (or Dandan), 407 Zaydi sect (of Shrites), 392 Zaynu'l 'A'bidin (fourth Imam
of the Shi'ites), 229, 239,
409 Zayiiatu'z Zatnan (Biography
of poets by -Andakhutli),
448 Ibnu'z -Zayyat, 164, 253, 331-
333, 35i
Zefre (dialect of — ), 27 Zend, 22-25, 43-44, 56, 58,
78, 79, 8i. See Avestti,
Avestic Zhukovski, Valentin — , 27,
83, 416 Zikrawayhi (Carmathian
leader), 358, 359, 402 Zindiq (pi. Zanadiqa), 155.
159. 303, 307, 4*i. 43'J;
Meaning and etymology
of the term — , 159. See
also Uanichaans Ziyad b. Jariya-Tamimi, 272 Ziyad b. Labid, 215 Ibn Ziyad, 'Ubaydu'llah — ,
225, 226, 228, 230 Ibn Ziyad, father of Ja'far,
307
INDEX
521
Dynasty, 359, 360, 364-365, 367, 37i. 376, 446,
453, 466, 469, 471. :oha
Zotiak, Zuhak, Zahhak. See Dahak
Zopyrus, 121
Zoroaster, 4, 25, 28-31, 34, 49- 54. 56, 5», 88- 95- 96. 102, 116, 118, 120, 123, 127, 154,
159, 162, 163, 173, 200, 201, 206, 046, 247, 263, 309, 310,
315. 334 : — identified with Abraham, 113 ; name of —
changed to Muhammad on conversion to Islam, 263
Zoroastrian Literature, 7, 8, 43, 44, 46, 118
Zoroastrian Priests, 135, 166, 169, 202, 206
Zoroastrian Religion, 6, 9, 23, 24, 30, 34. 36, 4*. 45-47, 127, 161, 165, 167, 170, 171, 202, 203, 206, 301, 414, 459- 460
Zoroastrians, 200-202, 206- 207, 23*. 303, 343. 352, 375.
448, 459. See also Guebres
M agio us
Zoroastrian sympathies im- puted to Barmecides, 259 Zotenb«rg, H. — , 369, 455, 478,
479
-Zubayr, 217, 388 Ibn-Zubayr, 228-231 Zubur. See Psalms of David -Zuhri (theologian), 263, 272,
273 Zuwarishn, 7, 73. See
Huzvansh
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